Forest fire amid record heat wave forces an entire village in Canada to evacuate: ‘The whole town is on fire’

[ad_1]

A wildfire amid a record heat wave in western Canada has forced authorities to order residents to evacuate a village in British Columbia that broke the country’s record for the hottest day three days in a row this week. Lytton Mayor Jan Bolderman issued an evacuation order Wednesday, saying on Twitter that the fire threatened buildings and the safety of residents of the community, which is 95 miles northeast of Vancouver.

“All residents are advised to leave the community and go to a safe place,” Bolderman said.

In an interview with CBC News, the mayor said the situation is dire for the community of 250 people. “The whole city is burning,” he said. “It took, for example, a full 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke, and all of a sudden, there was fire everywhere.”

A video posted on social media shows people driving out of town with flames nearby and thick smoke sweeping the road.

This is a video of people fleeing Lytton with a fire in the village, posted by the 2 Rivers Remix Society. The devastation and tragedy cannot be understood. #Leytonback #Leighton pic.twitter.com/OEPl4jRXsr

– Jessicajbalzer (@jessicajbalzer) July 1, 2021

Erica Berg, the regional fire information officer, said an evacuation order was issued about an hour after the fire started but she did not know its size.

Highways north and south of the village were closed, as firefighters also dealt with two other fires in the area.

trending news

The BC Wildfire Service described the fire as an “evolving situation.”

A view of a wildfire seen from a plane, in Leyton, British Columbia, Canada is shown on June 30, 2021 in this image obtained from social media on July 1, 2021. Karen Schmidlin via Reuters

Lytton’s temperature hovered around 102 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday. This was lower than on Tuesday, when the village hit a new Canadian high of 121.2 Fahrenheit, breaking previous highs of 118.2 Fahrenheit reached on Monday and 115 Fahrenheit on Sunday.

About 10 miles south in the First Nations community of Kanaka Bar, Jan McKay said she and her 22-year-old daughter Deirdre McKay began to panic as the smell of smoke grew.

“I was still sitting there wondering what to pack, I walked out my door emotionally but thinking ‘I’m going to leave all this behind’ and it’s tough,” McKay said. Too hard. When my girlfriend told me her house was on fire, it really hit the house.”

“My daughter phoned before we lost services and stuff, and she said, ‘Get out of there, get out of there.'” “

There was one souvenir her daughter couldn’t leave behind: “I took my dad’s picture from the wall,” McKay said. I tell her, ‘We’re on our way out and this is the house we built forever that you guys grew up in.’ “It’s cruel.”

Climate activist Greta Thunberg tweeted about the crisis early Thursday.

“It’s horrific. The whole city is burning. It took, for example, a full 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke, and all of a sudden, there was fire everywhere.” After 3 days of historical heat records – now the city of Lytton, BC is on fire. https://t.co/uj578r6CgI

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 1, 2021

The BC Wildfire Service also confirmed it was responding to several other fires in the county on Wednesday, including two north Big White fires as well as the Lake Sparks wildfires.

#BCWildfire Service is responding to wildfires 2~18 km north of Big White. The Long Loch Fire (K51040) and the Derrickson Lake Wildfire (K51041) are in close proximity and are estimated to have a combined size of 300 hectares. The behavior of smoke and fire makes it difficult to ascertain scale. pic.twitter.com/kPSNzrpRsm

– BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) July 1, 2021

Update: We’re signing up for the evening with an update on the Lake Sparks wildfire (K21001) which is now estimated at 2,300 hectares. The fire witnessed a significant growth throughout the day due to the hot weather and dry conditions in the area. pic.twitter.com/85eITNT7cu

– BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) June 30, 2021

.

[ad_2]