The province of British Columbia, in western Canada, declared a state of emergency this Friday due to the worsening of the crisis caused by hundreds of forest fires that forced the evacuation of thousands of people.
British Columbia Prime Minister David Elby announced the decision at a press conference held on Friday night, in which he urged the population to comply with evacuation orders.
The state of alarm was declared at a time when the outbreak of several fires had forced the evacuation of some 15,000 people from their homes, and another 20,000 people warned that they might have to leave their homes at any time.
British Columbia had 388 active wildfires on Friday and fears were raised that the situation could worsen due to weather conditions.
The most serious fire is the one that affects the cities of West Kelowna and Kelowna, about 300 kilometers east of Vancouver and with a combined population of more than 160,000 people.
The flames advanced in the last hours and destroyed several buildings in both locations.
Kelowna International Airport had to close and airspace was restricted to firefighting operations.
Canada, which had 1,052 active fires as of Friday, is experiencing its worst wildfire season in its history, which has already led to the issuance of more than 200 evacuation orders this year, forcing some 168,000 people to temporarily leave their houses.
In northwestern Canada, authorities in the Northwest Territories, one of the country’s 13 administrative divisions, announced late Friday that 95% of the 20,000 residents of the capital, Yellowknife, had already left the city. .
Authorities on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of Yellowknife before 12:00 p.m. Friday (7:00 p.m. in Lisbon), since the flames are only 15 kilometers from the largest city in northwestern Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to the city of Edmonton this Friday to visit one of the reception centers for evacuees from Yellowknife.
Wildfires in Canada have released the equivalent of more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) this year, an unprecedented record, Canadian authorities said last week.
The value is almost equal to the annual emissions of Japan (1.12 billion tons of CO2 in 2021), the fifth largest polluter in the world.
The fires have so far burned 13.5 million hectares, the equivalent of the area of Greece, and almost double the area of the last absolute record, which dates from 1989 with 7.3 million hectares, according to the Interagency Center. Canadian Forest Fire.
Since May, Canada has received help from some 5,000 firefighters from 12 countries, including Portugal, in June.
Source: TSF
