Officials in Canada have declared a state of emergency as the “worst wildfire season ever” forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
David Eby, the Premier of British Columbia, says the state of emergency means chiefs can impose travel restrictions. It comes as he pleads for people to avoid the central Interior and south-eastern parts of BC.
Eby says access to emergency accommodation in Interior is “becoming increasingly tight” as more and more people are forced out of their homes.
Firefighters meanwhile continue to battle the out of control McDougall Creek wildfire which has raged across 10,500 hectares. The gusty conditions in the hills above the city of West Kelowna has prompted the evacuations, reports the Guardian.
With a population of around 36,000 people, West Kelowna sits around 300km (180 miles) east of Vancouver. In the neighbouring province of Northwest Territories, 19,000 evacuated wildfire in Yellowknife.
Fire crews have worked around the clock to try and protect the 20,000 population city. They have been digging fuel breaks, spreading fire retardant and dropping water from the air.
On social media, Eby wrote: “This year, we’re facing the worst British Columbia wildfire season ever. Over the past 24 hrs, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead. Given these fast-moving conditions, we are declaring a provincial state of emergency.
“This ensures that we’re in a position to rapidly access any tools we need to support communities. We’re grateful that people are mostly following our call to not travel to certain areas and to stay out of the way of emergency crews so they can do their jobs.
“We are also seeing more and more people evacuated – and access to accommodation is becoming increasingly tight in the Interior. We need to ensure that accommodation is available for people who are evacuated.
“A provincial state of emergency allows the Province to enact emergency orders. Emergency orders could include travel restrictions to specific areas if people do not respect our calls to avoid non-essential travel to the central Interior and southeastern BC.
“We’re calling on all British Columbians to be alert, listen to local officials and follow evacuation orders. We will get through this together.”
No deaths have been reported from the fires.
