Bushfires: More soldiers demanded in British Columbia

The county faces this Forest fire crisis Since the heat wave at the end of June, we mention in the document addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defense Minister, Harjit Sagan.

The Thompson-Nicolas County Regional Board of Directors, also one of the signatories to the letter, notes that all of its resources are being deployed to deal with losses associated with the destruction of the village of Lytton in June, and the recent damage caused by a fire from White Rock Lake to Monty Lake and Buxton Valley.

White Rock Lake fire, northwest Vernon, British Columbia.

Photo: Kelly Kennedy

The massive fire, which now covers more than 80,000 hectares, is worrying local authorities, especially because of its proximity to local communities. It also destroyed about 70 properties in recent days, west of Lake Okanagan.

We desperately need more resources on EarthMerlin Blackwell, mayor of Clearwater, a town 130 kilometers north of Kamloops, argues who also signed the letter.

Logistics and evacuation assistance

Personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces have already been deployed as reinforcements this season, as are firefighters from other provinces and abroad.

However, the called-up teams will further assist at checkpoints, as well as in evacuating residents, logistics and infrastructure, such as access to water systems or generators, the Clearwater Mayor explains.

Only mobile kitchens and mobile camps available to the military are very useful to our teams. Many people sleep on the floor and don’t get enough meals, so it’s just an extra level of help, Diet Merlin Blackwell.

He remembers the teams are exhausted, too, after battling flames for several weeks.

The scale of the fires exceeds anything we have seen in the past.

The territorial government has reached its limits, and it may not admit it publicly, but the flaws are clearly visible, he argues.

The smoke went to 850 thousand hectares

More than 7,000 properties are subject to eviction orders in British Columbia

In the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, nearly all municipalities and electoral districts are subject to eviction alerts or orders. This was the case for 10 of the 11 member municipalities, and 8 of the 10 electoral districts, on Monday, we read in the letter.

Strong winds fanned some fires this past weekend.

Photo: BC Wildfire/Twitter

BC Wildfire has documented more than 260 active fires in the county, including about 30 of interest, which could threaten public safety. The majority of fires are found in the Kamloops area, such as Lytton Creek, White Rock Lake, and Sparks Lake.

Up to 200 reinforcements are expected this week from Quebec, the Northwest Territories, New Brunswick, Alberta and Yukon, to battle the fires, according to an announcement from the forestry minister on Monday.

Since the start of the season, fires have engulfed nearly 850,000 hectares of British Columbia, more than 73 times the size of Vancouver.

With information from Nantou Soumahoro