'An extraordinary day': Homes, towns evacuated after more than 140 wildfires break out in B.C.
Source: CBC
Posted: Jul 08, 2017 9:37 AM PT
A state of emergency remains in effect for the entire province of British Columbia as wildfires burn out of control throughout most of the Cariboo region and the Interior.
The B.C. Wildfire Service said 142 new fires broke out across the province on Friday. Those across the Interior prompted the evacuation of at least one airport, two hospitals, an entire town and hundreds more homes.
Information officer Kevin Skrepnek called it an "extraordinary" day.
"It's not unprecedented to have that number of fires in a day, but certainly the level of consequence, the size of the fires, the aggressiveness of which they're burning all of that is posing a significant challenge," he said.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfires-1.4196204?cmp=rss
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,600 posts)OnlinePoker
(5,725 posts)As of a couple of days ago, every fire so far this year in the coastal fire district has been human caused. I'm not sure of the percentage for the interior districts, but I would bet it's quite high as well. People just aren't getting the message about controlling open fires.
Rural_Progressive
(1,107 posts)We had such a wonderfully wet spring followed by a total shutdown of precipitation in June that the area is primed with thousands of acres (or hectares) of tall, dense, fine fuels.
Even if everyone brings their "A" fire prevention game to the table it's still going to a tough go till fall. I'd even want to think about what could be like if they don't.
Rural_Progressive
(1,107 posts)The smoke is so heavy eyes are watering and breathing is getting a little rough. We're going up to 92 degrees today and the humidity is down in the low 20s upper teens. Considering that it's just the beginning of July, doesn't bode well for a quiet, peaceful, uneventful summer for the US or Canada out here in the pacific northwest. Add in the incompetence of the dRump adminstation, who knows if they've done any of what needs to be done on the Federal level to prepare for dealing with wildfires and it could be a real challenge getting through to fall.
KT2000
(20,587 posts)It looks like many of the fires are so close to communities that may face evacuation. Be safe everyone.