British Columbia wildfire grows larger
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WEST KELOWNA, British Columbia (AP) -- A deadly wildfire in Western Canada that has forced some 20,000 people to flee grew overnight even without strong winds, challenging efforts to contain it and fully assess the damage, authorities said Tuesday.
About 100 firefighters from Mexico were on the way to help fight the blaze that’s destroyed homes and other properties near Okanagan Lake in British Columbia. The fire has killed an 80-year-old woman and burned toward Summerland, a community of about 12,000 people roughly 300 kilometers (185 miles) east of Vancouver.
The fire showed “quite significant growth” in some areas overnight even without strong winds, said Cliff Chapman, director of provincial operations for the British Columbia Wildfire Service. He added crews were working around the clock to establish control lines and make it safe for evacuated residents to return home.
“We recognized and we heard even last night that people obviously would like to go home. They would like to see the extent of the damage,” Chapman said.
Provincial officials ramp up evacuations
Kevin Dunbar, British Columbia’s executive director for emergency response and recovery operations, called it one of the largest evacuations in recent British Columbia history.
British Columbia officials said they had secured 1,600 hotel rooms and 1,000 group-lodging spaces for evacuees in Okanagan after some residents faced delays getting emergency assistance during the weekend evacuation.
Beyond those already forced to flee, another 10,000 people have been told to be ready to leave on short notice. More than 100 wildfires were burning across the province, and officials warned that dry lightning could spark new fires in the Central Interior and Okanagan. The province also asked the federal government for help expanding lodging for evacuees.
RCMP are investigating whether criminal activity played a role in the fire. Chapman said about 4% of wildfires in British Columbia over the past decade were suspected of having been deliberately set, but officials have not said the Bald Range fire was intentionally started.
In the United States, firefighters in California were fighting a blaze that has burned nearly 5 square miles in the Big Sur region of the state’s rugged central coast.
Area state parks have closed and evacuation orders have been issued, including for a roughly 7-mile stretch of Highway 1, the state’s iconic coastal route. Portions of the highway were closed on Tuesday due to the fire’s spread and evacuations, according to the California Highway Patrol.
In Minnesota, a person involved in the fight against a wildfire near the town of Ely died on Tuesday following an unspecified medical emergency. The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment where they died, the Superior National Forest said in a social media statement.
Further details, including the victim’s name, were not immediately released.
At least eight other people have died while helping with wildfires in the U.S. this year, including four firefighters who got trapped in a fire in western Colorado, a bulldozer operator who got overrun by flames in Oregon, two helicopter pilots who crashed while helping fight a fire in Utah and a helicopter pilot in Colorado who crashed into a reservoir.