Aussie firies pitch in to help battle Canada blazes

ALMOST 40,000 Canadians have fled their homes under threat of huge wild fires, with British Columbia facing its biggest emergency evacuation ever.

Canada scrambled thousands of firefighters and hundreds of aircraft from across the country to tackle raging infernos in the western province, and had even drafted extra firefighters from Australia, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.

He said 39,000 people had been forced from their homes so far, noting that the emergency measures constituted “the largest evacuation in the history of British Columbia,” the worst-hit region in the country.

“I would note that we’re expecting at least 50 forest firefighters to be coming in from Australia over the course of the next couple of days. And if there are additional resources needed from other parts of the world, we will access those as well,” he said.

Southern and central British Columbia have been hit by scorching weather that has left the forested province on high alert for the past 10 days. Authorities had hoped to have the fires under control late last week, but they returned with a vengeance over the weekend, fanned by strong winds and increasing in number as lightning strikes sparked new blazes.

Wild fires were also devas- tating forests in California, where a lightning storm on Sunday near Yosemite National Park started a blaze.

About 50 alerts were issued in towns and villages in British Columbia, forcing residents to flee their homes.

On Saturday, the 11,000 residents of Williams Lake were forced to abandon their homes and spend hours stuck in traffic jams on the only evacuation route still open from their town, surrounded by flames in the middle of the night.

A dozen towns set up emergency centres to accommodate those fleeing the fire.