Military deploy to help fight B.C. wildfires as thousands under evacuation alerts, orders

Thousands of people are under evacuation alerts or orders in B.C. due to hundreds of wildfires burning around the province.

The province’s minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness said Tuesday more than half of the fires are out-of-control.

“Since April 1, 2023, 1,183 wildfires have burned a total of 1.39 million hectares,” Ma said. “As winds shift today, smoke and cloud cover will clear. These clear skies will increase temperatures, lower humidity and increase wildfire activity on many of our current wildfires.”

3:26 Urban wildfire concerns increase on North Shore

The federal government is now sending additional resources to B.C. Members of the Canadian Armed Forces arrived Sunday, along with additional Canadian Coast Guard personnel, to help fight the wildfires and set up command posts.

Plans are currently underway to deploy Canadian Armed Forces crews to Burns Lake on Tuesday and Vanderhoof on Wednesday.

Teams from the U.S., Mexico and New Zealand are also offering support, in addition to teams from Australia that arrived last weekend.

“We know that the road ahead of us is long, complex and challenging,” Ma added.

1:47 Canada wildfires: 10M hectares burned in worst season on record

On Monday, the province reached another destructive wildfire milestone with the most hectares scorched in any year on record.

More than 1.39 million hectares have burned so far this year with the previous record being 1.35 million hectares in 2018.

However, there were 21,000 fires recorded in 2018, compared to almost 12,000 fires recorded this year.

Experts say this season is on track to be the worst wildfire season on record, aggravated by severe drought in many areas of the province.

1:48 Wildfire forces evacuations near Cranbrook

• Wildfire forces evacuations near Cranbrook
• Securing enough firefighting resources for B.C. wildfire season
• Wildfire near Cranbrook prompts evacuations, flight cancellations
• Scattered showers fall on parts of B.C. but offer no relief
• B.C. wildfire update: Alarming number of fires burning in province
• Firefighter dead in Northwest Territories, 2nd killed in Canada this wildfire season
• Drought impact on B.C. farmers
• Canadian military mobilizes to help B.C. fight wildfires
• New wildfire research lab launched at SFU
• Wildfire breaks out near Pitt Lake

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– with files from The Canadian Press