Heartbreak in B.C. interior
MORE WILDFIRES, EVACUATIONS EXPECTED IN B.C. WITH FORECASTED HOT WEATHER
Residents of a village in British Columbia’s southern interior are anxious to see what is left of their homes after one of the hundreds of wildfires raging across the region tore through their community, engulfing dozens of properties and forcing people to flee with little warning.
Mark Sutherland of the Ashcroft Indian Reserve west of Kamloops said Sunday he had only seconds to escape with his girlfriend and two young children before flames overtook his home.
“By the time we got everyone into the cars and we were getting out of the reserve, coming around the bend, (the fire) was already past the house. The next few houses were on fire,” said Sutherland, who used to work on a forestry firefighting ground crew.
“It was so fast. Everything was happening so fast.”
There is no end in sight as provincial officials expect more gusty winds and hot, dry conditions to fan the flames of the more than 220 fires that have destroyed an area covering at least 230 square kilometres.
Kevin Skrepnek, chief information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said the number of people forced from their homes is likely to rise from the latest estimate of 7,000.
“The situation around evacuation alerts and orders could be quite fluid,” said Kevin Skrepnek, chief information officer for the BC Wildfire Service, on Sunday.
“I would anticipate there would be expansions over the next few days.”
B.C. has committed $100 million to help communities and residents rebuild, while the federal government is sending aircraft.
Christy Clark, the outgoing premier, announced the fund Sunday in Kamloops. She said $600 will be made immediately available by electronic transfer through the Red Cross to people who have registered after being forced from their homes.
“We are just, in many ways, at the beginning of the worst part of the fire season and we watch the weather, we watch the wind, and we pray for rain,” she said.
“But our prayers aren’t always answered in these things and so we need to be there to support people in the meantime because there are hundreds and hundreds of people who are scared to death right now.”
She said the transition team for premier-designate John Horgan’s incoming government has been briefed on the establishment of the fund.
Horgan said the outgoing government has been very cooperative and that he would honour the $100 million Clark had committed to, adding that the province would likely provide even more support as the cost of the disaster grows.
“Whatever is needed to make sure that people are whole after this, we’re going to make sure that happens,” he said, after meeting with officials in Kamloops.
Horgan said he spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Sunday afternoon, who assured him the federal government stood ready to help.
“To have the prime minister say the federal government is there for us when we need it is very reassuring,” he said.
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Ottawa has agreed to federal assistance.
The Canadian Armed Forces are helping residents affected by evacuations and airlift emergency workers and equipment.
Three Canadian Armed Forces Griffon helicopters were expected to arrive in Kelowna on Sunday and some larger fixed-wing aircraft are to arrive over the next few days, said Chris Duffy, executive director of Emergency Management BC.
Duffy said the aircraft would be on standby and ready to help wherever they were needed, but that they would not be assisting with fire suppression at this time.
The hardest-hit regions were the central and southern Interior. There were also major blazes burning in northern B.C. but they weren’t posing as immediate a threat, said Skrepnek.