Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Lightning sparks about 200 new wildfires across B.C. as heat grips Interior

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 Jul, 2023 12:36 PM
  • Lightning sparks about 200 new wildfires across B.C. as heat grips Interior

Hundreds of lightning strikes in many parts of British Columbia almost tripled the number of active wildfires in the province over the weekend, with most burning in central and northern B.C.

The BC Wildfire Service is reporting more than 300 fires, with 87 spotted in the last 24 hours and almost 200 of the total number ranked as out of control.

The wildfire service is bracing for challenging conditions, with lightning storms still in the forecast for most of the week, as well as heat warnings or above-average temperatures through the central Interior.

Of the 13 blazes listed as "fires of note," all but two are located in the Prince George and Northwest fire centres, and the wildfire service says 11 have prompted at least one evacuation order, although no major communities are threatened.

Some of the fires are threatening rural highways, including Highway 27 south of Fort St. James and Highway 77 north of Fort Nelson, while flames first spotted last Thursday near the Yukon boundary now cover 300 square kilometres close to Highway 37, but aren't immediately affecting the link to Watson Lake and Whitehorse.

A wildfire in Yukon has roughly tripled in size since Sunday and remains out of control, charring about three square kilometres of bush in the Ibex Valley, about 30 kilometres due west of Whitehorse, south of the Alaska Highway, prompting an evacuation alert for numerous properties along the route.

B.C.'s wildfire danger was high to extreme across all but small pockets of the province on Monday.

Environment Canada posted a severe thunderstorm watch for the Fort Nelson and Peace River regions, the same area where large fires forced evacuations in July.

The weather office noted daily high temperature records were set in the province Sunday, including a high of 33 degrees Celsius in Fort Nelson, two degrees hotter than the previous record for that northeastern community, set 64 years ago.

Forecasters said Nakusp in B.C.'s southeast also posted a sizzling 37.2 C on Sunday, edging its old mark set 22 years earlier, and while no daily highs were posted in Yukon, that territory remains under heat warnings stretching almost 500 kilometres from its boundaries with B.C. and the Northwest Territories north to Mayo. 

Conditions could ease slightly in B.C. by Tuesday, but Environment Canada said cooler weather was not likely in Yukon for several more days. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Expansion, upgrade project valued at $366.5M starts at Williams Lake hospital

Expansion, upgrade project valued at $366.5M starts at Williams Lake hospital
Adrian Dix says the $366.5-million construction project now starting at Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake will increase the hospital's capacity and provide a modern working environment. Dix says the project will add 25 beds and a new emergency department, while expanding surgical, maternity, pharmacy and mental-health and substance-use treatment areas.

Expansion, upgrade project valued at $366.5M starts at Williams Lake hospital

Coquitlam shooting victim identified as Karnvir Singh Garcha

Coquitlam shooting victim identified as Karnvir Singh Garcha
RCMP were called to the Foster Avenue and North Road area shortly before 9:30 p.m. for reports of a shooting on Sunday. When police arrived, they found Garcha with gunshot wounds.

Coquitlam shooting victim identified as Karnvir Singh Garcha

Elections BC bans Mark Marissen and municipal party over financing breach

Elections BC bans Mark Marissen and municipal party over financing breach
A news release from the elections body says the party and six of its eight candidates in last year's municipal vote failed to meet the filing deadline for finance reports in January this year.  The agency says the party's campaign finance report also disclosed violations, including an improper $50,000 loan and prohibited donations.

Elections BC bans Mark Marissen and municipal party over financing breach

Busy Canada Day weekend for Prince George RCMP

Busy Canada Day weekend for Prince George RCMP
A statement from the detachment says officers were called to everything from robberies and attempted robberies to the torching of a vehicle -- possibly by a suspect already wanted on two other warrants.

Busy Canada Day weekend for Prince George RCMP

"A preoccupation with failure." Why the Titan submersible was doomed from the start

Jack Rozdilsky, a professor at York University in Toronto,  says OceanGate's business — ferrying paying passengers to the floor of the North Atlantic — could be compared to the immensely risky work of companies that launch space flights, drill for offshore oil, fight wildfires or operate nuclear power plants.

"A preoccupation with failure." Why the Titan submersible was doomed from the start

Joly concerned for safety of India's diplomats, calls protest poster 'unacceptable

Joly concerned for safety of India's diplomats, calls protest poster 'unacceptable
The poster is the latest in a string of problems in recent weeks that have increased tension between Ottawa and New Delhi over Sikh separatists in Canada. A poster for the event circulating on social media includes photos of India's top two diplomats in Canada — High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and Toronto Consul General Apoorva Srivastava — and refers to them as "the faces of Niijar's killers in Toronto."

Joly concerned for safety of India's diplomats, calls protest poster 'unacceptable