The premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia has declared a state of emergency, citing what he described as the worst wildfire season ever as thousands of individuals have been evacuated from cities to the east of Vancouver.
David Eby said on Friday night: "Over the past 24 hours, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead."
He continued: "We are facing the worst wildfire season in our province's history. This unprecedented situation has come to a head this evening. In just the last 24 hours, the situation has evolved and deteriorated quite rapidly."
Amidst blustery conditions in the hills and mountains above West Kelowna, firefighters are battling the uncontained McDougall Creek wildfire, which has spread over 10,500 hectares of land. This volatile situation has prompted the evacuation of thousands of residents.
West Kelowna, a municipality with a population of 36,000, is situated approximately 300 kilometres [180 miles] east of Vancouver. Evacuations were also being carried out north of nearby Kelowna, a city with a population of about 150,000 also on Okanagan Lake, the local media reported.
As events unfolded, authorities to the north, in the Northwest Territories region, said that upwards of 19,000 individuals have reportedly evacuated due to wildfires posing a threat to the city of Yellowknife.
Fire crews in the area are persistently engaged in creating fuel breaks, applying fire retardant, and conducting aerial water drops, all aimed at safeguarding the city of 20,000, news reports said.
Firefighters reported that the fire's advancement west of Yellowknife was slowed down on Friday by cloud cover and cooler temperatures.
Roughly 4,000 people were evacuated via air transport, and there's potential for additional flights on Saturday contingent upon factors such as weather conditions, aircraft availability, and crew readiness.
Shane Thompson, the province's environment minister, said that around 1,000 essential personnel are staying behind, while strongly urging anyone else to vacate the area.
Yellowknife mayor Rebecca Alty said on Friday: "Unfortunately, the journey isn't done yet. The fire continues to approach and the uncertainty of when you'll be able to return will be difficult."
Meanwhile, in a joint statement with emergencies minister Bowinn Ma, Mr Eby said: "There are numerous fires across the province threatening communities. Thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and tens of thousands more are on evacuation alert."
The statement added: "We're calling on all British Columbians to be alert, listen to
local officials and follow evacuation orders. We will get through this together."
"It was a devastating [Thursday] night, probably the most challenging of my career," West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund said during a news conference on Friday. "We fought hard last night to protect our community. We fought 100 years' worth of fires all in one night."
Mr Brolund said some emergency responders were trapped because they had to rescue residents who chose not to leave their properties despite being under evacuation orders, CBC News reported. "That's the fire chief's worst nightmare."
Canada is facing its most severe wildfire season to date, with over 1,000 active fires ablaze across the nation, including 236 in the Northwest Territories. In this region alone, wildfires have consumed over two million hectares of land, leading to evacuation orders for over half of the population residing there.
DeliciousTears properly saturated forests don't burn easily. Dry ones do. It takes quite a while to dry out a large forest....forest fires we are seeing now is the results of many years of drying out.
Some folks want to blame anything else other then themselves...which is why "arson" and "forest mgmt" are often raised as things to blame. To blame "CO2" would have to address how one lives.
The "good news" - CO2 rises after temp changes and is from my view - inconsequential at this moment. The oil companies are off the hook. Energy companies are off the hook. CO2 carbon markets are folly. You can feel smug and happy that Al Gore (Can't forget Prince Charles, oh sorry King) and the rest of the CO2 camp are wrong. Very wrong. Don't worry about carbon credits or buying an EV to feel good.
Trivia: If climate scientists ($cience!) stated that the current things we are seeing weren't supposed to happen for many many decades in the future -- does that mean something about the "science" was wrong in the first place?
The "bad news" is that the real cause is something nearly everyone is addicted to and comes in many more forms and is even more tied into our collective modern self-identity....microwave radiation. And to regulate / admit that......is another story altogether.
But nascent steps are moving in that direction. Like just on paper...
Old tech is off the hook, but new tech is the bad boy. And how many are willing to criticize or even contemplate new tech being bad? For the environment - let alone personal health. From someone who has for a relatively long time....very very few.
It will happen....after the "fall" and mega-death and suffering. Ahh...the irony.
we're learning - the very hard way....lots more HARDSHIP to come in a very short period of time. Enjoy the movie.
Go buy a nice stove top popcorn maker, you'll need it.
LindaMay Nice to know that detail. Reading about older forests that have burned in recent years is insightful. In 2020 - CA - Big Basin Redwoods state park burned down. 97% of "California's oldest state park." Also older forests in other parts of the world. Forests that should be wet & resistant enough to fire.
An earlier data point though is when bark beetles started getting out of control in Canada. CBC doc - David Suzuki - The Beetles are Coming....you might like. Being Canadian and all. I do remember you from an earlier comment i made. This CBC doc is on Youtube, or should be. You learn about the beginning of the British Columbia bark beetle kill off -- unprecedented. And you learn WHEN it started....which coincides EXACTLY with the proliferation / boom of cell phone towers...(For mass populace - smaller handsets and lower prices). Have a gazillion more data points -- past & present. Of course, the doc doesn't talk about cell phones...they don't have that knowledge / understanding.
We will eventually understand, but that won't start until the 2030s....by then the world as we know it will be over with many major cities destroyed. That's the view from where I sit. Suffering will continue apace even then....but we don't appreciate what we have until we've lost it....and this is the lesson / experience we are getting. One of many....over-reliance on technology, assumption is the mother of all f ups, and many more.
Enjoy the MOO-vie! (Worshipping the golden calf we still do - yummy cheese, beef, and milk!) You know about Youtube channel - Canadian Prepper?
LindaMay just to be clear..."climate change" won't directly destroy any major cities...that's just good ol' war....elevating with China-Taiwan (home of the modern gold - semicon's - which power m/w radiation - ironically)....but m/w radiation will finish the job in my view. food shortages (from drought, etc...), water shortages (Lack of rainfall - due to weather shift), more "crazy weather," and "crazy people" gone mad (or emotionally retarded) so to speak from digital radiation....it's gonna be fun. Buckle up! Or not........maybe not buckling up is better.
I've had enough of someone else's propaganda. I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it's for or against. I'm a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.
- Malcolm X
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