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Vancouver, British Columbia — As tens of thousands of people were under evacuation orders in British Columbia and firefighters battled wildfires across Canada on Sunday, fire chiefs in a region known as a summer destination for families said they had made some progress in The struggle.
“There is finally a glimmer of hope,” West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Broland said at a news conference on progress being made in the Okanagan Lake region of southern British Columbia, an area of picturesque resort towns surrounded by mountains.
“The weather has allowed us to make progress,” he said, adding that crews were able to perform more traditional firefighting techniques, such as putting out hot spots.
If “conditions stay as they are,” he said, fire crews will start to see “real progress that is being made in a measurable way. And that’s finally a bit of hope for us.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of fires continued in British Columbia and 35,000 people were under evacuation orders on Sunday.
“It’s still very dynamic,” said Jerrad Schroeder, chief of the British Columbia Forest Fire Service. “There are still parts of this fire that we just haven’t prioritized.”
The provincial government issued a state of emergency and urged people not to travel for non-essential reasons to the central interior and southeastern parts of the province due to “significant” bushfire activity.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the approval of British Columbia’s request for federal assistance, saying the government was deploying Canadian Armed Forces assets to assist with evacuations. “We will continue to be here with whatever support is necessary,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year that have caused choking smoke in parts of the US. In all, there have been more than 5,700 fires, burning more than 137,000 square kilometers (53,000 square miles) since one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Inter-Agency Wildland Fire Centre. There are still more than 1,000 active fires in the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center Inc.
Meanwhile, firefighters worked Sunday to keep blazes at bay near the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, where forecasters warned drier, windier weather was ahead.
The break that firefighters defending Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, was expected to end due to milder weather and a small amount of rain as temperatures were forecast to rise higher. Authorities had managed to prevent the flames from advancing to within nine miles (15 kilometers) of Yellowknife, which was left largely empty as nearly all of its 20,000 residents fled for safety.
That fire is one of 237 wildfires burning in the Northwest Territories.
In a Facebook post, Yellowknife officials said they were working with 20 contractors and 75 volunteers to set up lines of defense against wildfires around the city, including firebreaks, water sprinklers and cannons, and aircraft that drop fire retardants. A 25-kilometre (15.5 mi) line of protection has been established.
“We are not out of the woods yet, as many factors can change the state of a fire quickly,” the publication said.
Despite the gains made by firefighters in the Okanagan Lake region, which includes Kelowna, a city of 150,000 about 90 miles (150 kilometers) north of the US border, Fire Chief Broland admitted that “some may go back to nothing” when evacuees are allowed to return.
“Some of you have lost your homes. There is no question about that,” she said. “There are many backyards where the fire has reached your patio furniture directly. And there it has stopped because of the work of the 500 people who are on the ground fighting. ”
Among those who fled when the flames threatened their homes was Todd Ramsay. He recalled sitting on his deck in the North Clifton area of Kelowna watching the fire rage across Okanagan Lake, about 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) away. He didn’t think it would be possible for the flames to jump across the lake, but they did.
“Sure enough, it started raining pine cones and tree bark,” he said. A fire quickly started behind her house and there were “huge columns of smoke that carried only embers across the lake.” Ramsay said he turned on a sprinkler and he and his family packed up to flee Thursday night as the trees burned, wondering if they would ever see his house again.
By Saturday, Ramsay, his wife, two children, two cats and a dog had driven north from Vancouver to stay with his sister. Ramsay heard that his house hadn’t burned down, but he wasn’t sure.
“There is definitely some anxiety about it. Where are we going to stay, what are we going to do when we get back, if it’s not there,” she said. “I am an artist. I have many of my paintings there. Obviously the most important thing is that we are all safe. But we have worked hard all our lives to have this home.”
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Haigh reported from Norwich, Connecticut.
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