Canada: British Columbia declares state of emergency amid ‘worst wildfires’

Canada's western province of British Columbia, on Friday (August 18), declared a state of emergency after wildfires tore through the mountains above the town of West Kelowna forcing thousands of evacuations.

The officials released a statement saying that the next 24 to 48 hours could be the most critical.

“We are declaring a provincial state of emergency to ensure that we have rapid access to any tools that we may need to respond to this situation. And these tools are necessary to support communities, to support families and support those brave frontline workers who are battling the fires in our forests and in our communities," said British Columbia Premier David Eby.

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“That right now we are facing the worst wildfire season in our province's history. This unprecedented situation has come to a head this evening in just the last 24 hours the situation has evolved and deteriorated quite rapidly. In just the last hour we've gone from about 4,500 homes under evacuation to about 15,000 homes, families being evacuated from their homes across the province,” he added.

"Over the past 24 hours, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead," the government of British Columbia said in a statement.

"We fought hard last night to protect our community," Jason Brolund, West Kelowna fire chief, told reporters. "Night turned to day because of the orange glow of the clouds and the fire."

The officials further added that more than 2,400 buildings were evacuated and thousands more were on alert. Brolund said that several structures were destroyed in West Kelowna during the night.

Situated towards the east of Vancouver, West Kelowna is home to 36,000 people. The wildfires also prompted evacuations in Kelowna, where a population of about 150,000 resides.

Trudeau visits evacuation centre

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after his visit to an evacuation centre for Northwest Territories residents, said that the government will make all the possible efforts to help communities rebuild the “terrible losses”.

"The federal government is there with the significant military assets. We're coordinating the air evacuations, we're making sure that we're there to respond to all the needs of the community now, and we’ll be there in the coming months and years as we look to keep people safe moving forward even as we rebuild in places where there are terrible losses," the Canadian Prime Minister said.

He also paid tributes to first responders, police and volunteers for all their efforts saying that the way Canadians were looking out for each other was “truly extraordinary”.

"It's, it really is a recognised reflection of the extraordinary generosity not just the people in Edmonton, but people right across, right across the country, welcoming up their home, opening up their homes and their communities to people fleeing what has been an extraordinarily difficult summer," Trudeau said.

"And this is something we've seen right across the country this summer. From the east coast, the fires in Nova Scotia, to dealing with floods across the country with wildfires in just about every province across this country. Terrible loss, increased extreme weather events. And all through it. We've seen Canadians step up, obviously, first responders, firefighters, police, volunteers, Red Cross have been incredible in supporting and responding to people," he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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