Thousands flee homes as wild fires ravage Canada

THOUSANDS of Canadians have been ordered to flee homes as the country faces its most devastating wildfires on record.

A state of emergency was declared last night in British Columbia, where firefighters are battling hundreds of blazes.

Hundreds of miles north, Yellowknife, the largest urban area in Northwest Territories, has been reduced to a ghost town after the evacuation of 19,000 of its 20,000 residents. A 644 square mile blaze was closing in on the town last night, with fears it may engulf the centre this weekend.

In British Columbia, 15,000 households have been ordered to flee, with another 20,000 on alert. Firefighters are battling a blaze spread across 10,500 hectares of hill and mountains above the town of West Kelowna, 180 miles east of Vancouver.

Officials said a ‘significant’ number of buildings in the town had caught fire, forcing the evacuation of 2,400 homes.

Its fire chief Jason Brolund said his teams had battled ‘100 years worth of fire in one night’. He added: ‘We fought hard last night to protect our community. Night turned to day because of the orange glow of the clouds and the fire.’

Wildfires are a danger in Canada’s dry, hot summers but experts say that

‘Night turned to day because of the orange glow of clouds’

climate change is turning the country into a tinderbox.

Crystal Sangris, 33, who was forced to flee Yellowknife for Alberta, more than 1,000 miles away, with her three young children said: ‘I never, ever thought that this day would come.

‘I didn’t want to leave home, I was tearing up. I am very stressed and overwhelmed, so is my entire family.

‘My son is five and keeps saying, “I want to go home”. We’re trying to make him understand we can’t go home.’

Fire crews are working round the clock to dig firebreak areas and drop water from the air in an attempt to ward off flames threatening to overcome Yellowknife.

Huge areas of the forest surrounding the town have been cleared of trees and brush to help starve the encroaching fire.

Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season, with more than 1,000 fires nationwide. Some 236 fires in Northwest Territories alone are burning across two million hectares of land, officials said.