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OFFICIALS IN WESTERN Canada’s British Columbia implored tens of thousands of residents to heed evacuation orders Saturday as “rapidly evolving” wildfires threatened large parts of the scenic Okanagan Valley, including the city of Kelowna.
The situation in the popular boating and hiking destination was “highly dynamic,” said Bowinn Ma, the province’s minister of emergency management.
Around 30,000 people were under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, she said.
Kelowna, a city of 150,000, was choked with thick smoke as it became the latest population center hit by one of the many wildfires scorching Canada this summer.
British Columbia alone had 385 active wildfires by late Saturday night, according to government data.
“We cannot stress strongly enough how critical it is to follow evacuation orders when they are issued,” Ma said at an afternoon news conference.
“They are a matter of life and death not only for the people in those properties but also for the first responders who will often go back to try to implore people to leave.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had spoken with British Columbia Premier David Eby about the “rapidly evolving and incredibly devastating wildfire situation” and pledged federal resources in responding to the disaster.
Blazes in the neighboring Northwest Territories have meanwhile prompted the evacuation of regional capital Yellowknife, leaving the remote city of around 20,000 largely a ghost town.
Overnight rains brought some relief to Yellowknife on Saturday, however, “a little rain does not mean it’s safe to come back home,” warned Northwest Territories environment minister Shane Thompson.
“Though the surface may not show fire, it’s still active and it’s huge,” he said at a Saturday evening news conference, noting that temperatures are expected to rise again Sunday.
Yellowknife official Chris Greencorn praised the work crews were doing to build defenses around the city, with large areas cleared to create firebreaks and pipes laid for sprinklers and water cannon.
“Basically this represents approximately two full Yellowknife construction seasons completed in less than six days,” he said.
The exodus from Yellowknife and elsewhere means two-thirds of the near-Arctic territory’s population has been displaced, Thompson said.
The fires have caused “terrible loss,” Trudeau told reporters after meeting Yellowknife evacuees Friday as they arrived in Edmonton, Alberta, with no idea when they may return home.
In British Columbia, blazes have already destroyed several properties in West Kelowna, among them the Lake Okanagan Resort, according to local media.
The historic property is known for having hosted high-profile visitors such as former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
“It’s become evident that this event is going to leave a long-lasting scar on our community,” West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said at a news conference on Saturday.
He said the previous day had been “one of the most difficult days of firefighting our department has ever faced.”
Eby announced on Saturday an emergency order halting non-essential visits to the area.
The order, which bans visitors from checking in at hotels and other temporary accommodations, covers Kelowna and the nearby towns of Kamloops, Oliver, Penticton and Vernon as well as Osoyoos near the US border.
“If you are currently in accommodations in these areas, we are asking you to voluntarily check out early and free up those spaces for evacuees and responders,” Ma said.
Firefighters from Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica, as well as eastern Canada, are assisting British Columbia to combat the blazes.
Across the border in the United States, several thousand people were forced to flee wildfires in Washington state, with at least one death reported, local media said.
An evacuation was ordered for Medical Lake, a town outside Spokane next to a US Air Force base, while a section of the vital I-90 highway was closed, authorities said.
Canada is experiencing a record-setting wildfire season, with official estimates of more than 14 million hectares (34.6 million acres) already burned — roughly the size of Greece and almost twice the area of the last record of 7.3 million hectares. Four people have died so far.
Scientists say human-caused global warming is exacerbating natural hazards, making them both more frequent and more deadly.
© Agence France-Presse
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Sure, let’s hand societal control over to these “Climate” ideologues and their Orwellian policies.
Because that’s what this narrative is all about.
It has nothing to do with climate, or fires, or trees.
It’s about cramming the human population into small confined spaces where they are more easily manipulated and controlled.
Let them live in termite mounds, run around like ants and apply for cycle permits to visit the convenience store to purchase their weekly ration of crickets.
Welcome to the Green Dystopia.
@Tommy Haze: Prove it.
@Tommy Haze: You vill eat ze bugz und you vill be happy
@I’m Far Right: i vill eat as much meat and burn as much fossil fuel as i can und i vill be VERY happy:)
@Dave Callaghan: If you burn ze coal, Satan Klaus vill not give you ze presents.
@Rowe: must have been hard getting all of UKIP’s false talking points into Ireland after Brexit. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
@Tommy Haze: have you been to Canada? There’s no one there, population density 4 people per square km.
Climate cult incoming with doom and gloom lol
@Jon John:
Sunday morning…they’re probably out on the nearest Greenway or Blueway virtue signalling each other on penny farthing bikes with rescue greyhounds in the basket.
@Tommy Haze: brilliant lol
Thank you sensei …
@Jon John: yet you are in first………..as always.
The nonsense coming from the keyboard of Tommy Haze is some of the most outrageous. It is amazing how some people are triggered so easily by a news article about an environmental issue such as a fire or a weather event. Their veins bulge as they switch into conspiracy mode and make a fool out if themselves. Tommy and his ilk are an embarrassment.
@Sun Rise: oh look a climate looney lol
@Sun Rise: The leader is good, the leader is great, we surrender our will as of this date. !! I’m going to refer to these climate change cultists as “Movementarians”
@Sun Rise: everything that is real triggers them, unfortunately.
@Jon John: name calling again. You share the same bad traits as the trump maga lad and William Slevin and all his bogus accounts.
Who started that one now? Trudeau is a missive fan of lasers .
The comments on this site are fair dumb . I’ve been here a few weeks and its just the same few peeps blasting each other with the silliest of arguments. And as for the conspiracies/religious/racist guys…hahahaha,they are rightly off their rocker.Such a weird news site.
@Alan B: I’ve noticed over the past year Instagram has become quite toxic with likes of what you say,no matter what the upload is about there are a bunch of negative bull in the comments. It’s the last social media that I take part in as the rest are pointless.
Here is just the same by the looks of it. Better off with no comments.
Hopefully Trudeau and the lads will bring them all to Blisstonia….
Looks amazing…
Our divine leader Eamon, who is the chosen one, has spoken.Non believers must suffer the chastisement of fire. Taxes may cleanse us from sin, but cycle lanes will lead us to the promised land.
All these events around the globe, It’s almost like someone is trying to do a Great Reset, What do you think Klaus.
“Around 30,000 people were under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, she said.
Kelowna, a city of 150,000, was choked with thick smoke as it became the latest population center hit by one of the many wildfires scorching Canada this summer.”
We are really lucky we live in a country with a temperate climate…for now!
John John + 12 year old mental patient lol
@Jon John For whatever reason I can’t directly reply to you. I did not mention climate change. You did. You are a great example of a wee boy crying out for attention by trolling online to give your life some sort of meaning and purpose. You are so weak and easily triggered.
I hope that in good time you mature and reflect upon the utterly ridiculous manner in which you currently go about your day as a troll on the internet. The truth is that people like you online are an example to kids of how not to behave. There are newborn babies who have matured to a greater level in their first minutes of life than you have so far. Let that sink in. You may think you are the smart one but the truth is I sympathize with you. You need help.
I look forward to whatever babble you may reply with.
have your say