Amid Canada’s record-breaking heatwave, a fire has engulfed an entire town. As per authorities, in Western Canada, about 1000 people have been evacuated as fire chared at least onetown.
Premier John Horgan said that in the last 24 hours the province of British Columbia has recorded 62 new fires. “I cannot stress enough that almost every part of British Columbia currentlyhas an extreme fire risk,” said Horgan.
Following the jaw-dropping high temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121 degrees Fahrenheit) record in Canada about 250 residents of a village were evacuated on Wednesday evening. The townof Lytton which is 250 km northeast of Vancouver “has suffered structural damage and 90 percent of the village including the city center is burnt,” said local MP Brad Vis.
The order to evacuate residents of approximately 100 properties north of Lyttonw was extended Wednesday night.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan writes on Twitter, ” The last 24 hours have been devastating for Lytton residents.” He added that the Canadian armed forces are ready to “supportthe residents as we move forward in the next steps.”
So far, no loss of life or injury related to fires has been reported by the Provincial authorities, several of which clustered north of the city of Kamloops, located some 150 km northeastof Lytton.
Earlier, on the evening of July 1, British Columbia fire authorities had stated that due to these unprecedented hot and dry conditions they “expect another difficult day ahead.”
As per media reports, the ground breaking temperatures will continue over the next couple of days. “The duration of “This heatwave is concerning as there is little relief atnight with elevated overnight temperatures,” reported Environment Canada.
Besides British Columbia, heat wave alerts have been issued for the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and parts of the Northwest Territories, and northern Ontario.
Along with Western Canada, the US states of Washington and Oregon are also witnessing the high temperature. Hundreds of sudden deaths related to heat and high temperature have been reportedthis week.