From the northern Peace region to the U.S. border, B.C. communities are anxiously watching wildfire evacuation alerts and orders, with the tragedy in Lytton fresh in their minds as they make decisions for the days and weeks ahead.
From the northern Peace region to the U.S. border, B.C. communities are anxiously watching wildfire evacuation alerts and orders, with the tragedy in Lytton fresh in their minds as they make decisions for the days and weeks ahead.
“We are facing very difficult firefighting conditions due to the weather we’re seeing across the province,” said BC Wildfire Service information officer Jean Strong.
“It’s continuing to be very dry, very hot, and we are seeing that wind come through, which can make firefighting a challenge.”
As of Friday morning, the BC Wildfire Service said there were nine wildfires of note in the province, with a combined size of more than 600 square kilometres. They all started in the past few days as record-breaking temperatures and subsequent thunderstorms rolled across the province.
There are fires near Lillooet, 100 Mile House, Buckinghorse River and several small communities in the Cariboo, but the closest to a major city was near Castlegar, home to about 8,000 people.
The fires near Lytton have prompted the closure of Highway 1 in both directions north of Hope to Spences Bridge. Drivers are being asked to avoid this area to support firefighting operations.
Highway 3 is also closed in both directions, according to DriveBC, as crews battle the Merry Creek wildfire between Highway 3B and Crestview Crescent.
“You just never know with the heat we’ve had, the extreme heat, it’s almost inevitable that something’s going to happen,” said Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff, a Castlegar city councillor who spent much of Thursday helping move around 50 residents from a care facility that was under an evacuation order.
She said the disaster in Lytton, where a majority of the small town was destroyed in a fire Wednesday, was making people more proactive than before.
“Be prepared, you never know if it’s going to happen it to you,” she said.
“Think about all those personal papers you need … and just have a plan.”
WATCH | Lytton, B.C., destroyed by wildfire:
In Lytton, B.C., a heat dome fuelled by climate change has created scorching temperatures, stoking fires that have destroyed the town. More than 1,000 people have been displaced, and it’s not yet known whether anyone has died. 5:48
Meanwhile, some 200 evacuees in the Juniper Ridge neighbourhood in Kamloops, B.C., are being asked to return home on Friday after a wildfire threat on Thursday night triggered an evacuation order.
The fire, which ignited during weather that produced several lightning strikes, is now under control, according to the Kamloops Fire Department, and crews will continue to work in the area with additional air support from BC Wildfire Service on Friday.
The department is urging residents and businesses in the area to reduce irrigation to protect the water supply for fire crews.
In a statement, Fire Chief Steve Robinson said the efforts of firefighters saved an estimated 400 homes.
Extreme weather intensifying
Climate scientists are cautious about citing climate change as the cause of any specific weather event, such as the current heat wave in British Columbia. But some say evidence suggests extreme events are intensifying and becoming more common because of global warming.
A 2019 report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada found the country is warming twice as fast as the global average, with the highest rates occurring in the North, the Prairies and northern B.C. Temperatures in the Arctic are increasing at three times the global rate.
Jet streams, meanwhile, which essentially move weather patterns, are stalling much longer due to the shrinking temperature difference between the Arctic and mid-latitudes, according to CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe.
“You get great [heat] waves, like what’s happening over B.C., that stick around for longer,” she said.