British Columbia: the fire is burning

Screen Capture / TVA News

QMI agency and AFP

Sunday, July 9, 2017 17:27

UPDATE
Sunday, July 9, 2017 17:47

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Hundreds of people are affected by the new evacuations in British Columbia, where more than 200 forest fires are still raging.

The department for the fight against forest fires in the province announced on Sunday morning that close to 100 new fires had broken out in the day on Saturday. Early Sunday morning, 230 forest fires were identified by the service. Most of them were still not controlled.

The new evacuations affect more than 600 people, mainly residing in the regions of Ashcroft, Cache Creek, 100 Mile House, Alexis Creek, and of HiHium Lake. More than 7,000 individuals had already left their residence earlier this end of the week.

The state of emergency was declared on Friday by the authorities of the province after the bursting of 173 fires.

Nearly a dozen fires that extends over more than 15 500 hectares in the centre of the province, are especially threatening.

The department for the fight against forest fires is estimated that the heat and dry temperatures that have prevailed in recent weeks about the province have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

“What we didn’t anticipate is the force of the wind that we had yesterday (Saturday) and lightning. We will be there for a long time,” said fire chief Kevin Skrepnek in interview for the CBC.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters were fighting the flames on Saturday. The provincial minister John Rustad said that 260 firefighters from across Canada will come in reinforcement at the beginning of the week.

This is the worst fire to occur in the province since the summer of 2003, while 2500 fires had erupted on its territory.

Disaster financial assistance British Columbia

British Columbia has donated 100 million dollars in aid to the victims of forest fires on Sunday, while the fires are increasing in the center of this canadian province.

After meeting the affected people in Kamloops (350 km east of Vancouver), the first minister of the province, Christy Clarke, has promised “a fund of 100 million, which will provide communities and residents affected by the fires with the resources necessary to rebuild”.

According to Environment Canada, the heat wave and drought experienced by the province is expected to continue until at least Monday, promoting the propagation of forest fires.

The department for the fight against the forest fires of British Columbia has identified approximately 230 households assets Sunday, and 97 departures of traffic lights for the single day of Saturday.