Heat warning over after a deadly toll

An extended heat warning covering most of B.C. was finally lifted Wednesday as preliminary data began to paint a grim picture of the effects those record-high temperatures had on the population.

According to the BC Coroners Service, its staff responded to 110 sudden deaths within the Interior Health region from June 25 through July 1, nearly double the 59 cases they handled in the same period of 2020.

This year’s numbers are even more alarming compared to the pre-COVID years of 2016 to 2019, when the totals for the same week ranged from 41 to 43.

However, Interior Health actually fared relatively well compared to its counterparts on the Lower Mainland.

In the Fraser Health region, coroners responded to 344 deaths during the week of heat, compared to just 61 in the same period of 2020. And in the Vancouver Coastal region, coroners were called to 193 deaths, versus 45 in the year-ago period.

Across the province, the BC Coroners Service responded to 777 deaths during the period in question, compared to 232 for the same part of 2020.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a statement her agency took the unusual step of releasing the preliminary data because “it is believed likely the extreme weather B.C. has experienced… is a significant contributing factor to the increased number of deaths.”

Lapointe said many of the victims were “older individuals living alone in private residences with minimal ventilation,” and that her agency “will carefully investigate the circumstances of each death to determine the role extreme heat may have played and will use the findings of these investigations to help prevent future deaths in similar circumstances.”

All of those sudden deaths played out against the backdrop of a heat warning that was issued June 23 by Environment Canada. And, while the warning ended Wednesday, meteorologist Doug Lundquist urged continued caution in the Okanagan.

“It doesn’t really mean the heat’s over,” he said. “We’re forecasting highs in the 30 C to 35 C range for the next seven days.”

Lundquist is also keeping an eye on U.S. weather models that are forecasting another unprecedented heat wave in the western part of that country, although he doesn’t expect it to have much influence north of the border.

More concerning to the meteorologist is the continuing risk of thunderstorms this week in tinderdry B.C., which just completed its hottest June on record.

Kelowna set an all-time heat record June 29 when the mercury reached 45.7 C, while Penticton did the same a day later when the temperature climbed to 44.2 C.

Lytton recorded the hottest temperature ever measured in Canada on June 29 with a blistering 49.6 C. The village was destroyed by fire a day later.

LYTTON — A statement issued by the wildfire-ravaged Village of Lytton describes how little time residents had to flee and underscores the extreme challenges ahead for rebuilding the community.

It says village staff were alerted to the fire that spread “with ferocious speed” last Wednesday when someone banged on the office windows after business hours.

The statement says staff called Mayor Jan Polderman and the volunteer fire department but found firefighters were already battling the flames that razed the centre of the village.

RCMP officers were already evacuating residents along a downtown street when Polderman called 911, and then he contacted the Thompson-Nicola Regional District to let them know he was ordering a full evacuation.

It says conditions were extremely dry and a brisk wind spurred on the fire, which has so far charred 77 square kilometres of bush and is still classified as out of control.

In addition to two confirmed deaths, the statement says there were several injuries.

“We want everyone to know that their bravery was incredible in the face of this unimaginable horror,” says the statement, issued a week after the fire sparked.

The village’s top priority is locating and supporting residents, says the statement, which urges anyone who knows someone who was in Lytton last Wednesday to contact the RCMP if they haven’t heard from that person since the evacuation.

The fire destroyed equipment at Lytton’s emergency operations centre, it says, and staff are currently trying to work from “a couple of laptops, an iPad and our cellphones” in an office belonging to the regional district based in Kamloops.

Some properties on the eastern side of Highway 1 were spared, but the statement says they have no electricity, sewer or water services and all infrastructure that has not been “melted, incinerated or damaged beyond repair” is too unsafe to use.

“For those looking at heartbreaking pictures of our village, please understand that if a wall is standing, it does not mean there is anything on the other side of it.”

The regional district has offered to arrange buses to take residents to see the extent of the damage, the statement says, but that won’t happen until the BC Wildfire Service is certain there is no danger from fire or other hazards.

The village is working with the Provincial Health Services Authority disaster psychosocial services program to offer trauma and grief counselling, it says.

“In the coming days, weeks, months and years our hearts will break again and again as that trauma and loss is replayed in our minds and our souls,” the statement says. “But we are Lytton, we are strong and we will rebuild our homes and businesses, rekindle our friendships and community, stronger and more enduring than ever.”

Testing and an in-depth assessment will also be needed to determine the state of the community’s watershed and if it has been contaminated by fire retardant.

Power and phone crews are already assessing damage in the village, but the statement says CN Rail and CP Rail “will have no access” to Lytton, except to use rail-based vehicles to handle fire suppression on their respective rights-of-way.

The wildfire service says the number of firefighters assigned to Lytton Creek blaze is growing to 100 as a crew of 40 from New Brunswick joins a team of 60 from B.C.

Thirteen wildfires that are either highly visible or pose a potential safety threat are burning in B.C. The wildfire service says it’s handling more than 200 active fires, most of them in the southern Interior.

Of the estimated 17 wildfires sparked overnight, the service’s website shows eight were sparked by lightning and the cause of the other nine is unknown.

Lightning remains a threat for a large section of the southern Interior. Environment Canada has lifted all heat warnings in B.C., although air quality advisories linked to wildfire smoke remain posted across much of the Interior.