Earth Protect Blog

By David Sharp and Jim Morris

The Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia>> Firefighters battling wildfires in Canada on Saturday sought to stop flames that swept through the West Kelowna suburbs in British Columbia, forced the evacuation of a university campus and fouled the air with thick smoke.

The entire province was under a state of emergency as firefighters waged an epic battle, and firefighting reinforcements and calmer weather provided hope for a reprieve during Canada’s worst fire season on record.

Elsewhere, a small amount of rain fell overnight — about 4 millimeters — and humidity was high enough to dampen fire activity, providing some measure of help for weary firefighters in the Northwest Territories, Mike Westwick, wildfire information officer, said Saturday.

No deaths were reported but Westwick said a “significant number” of structures had been destroyed.

Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, was a virtual ghost town after nearly all of the city’s 20,000 residents fled under evacuation order.

Charlotte Morritt was among those who left Thursday, reaching that decision because of the unbearable smoke that had become unhealthy for her 4-month-old son.

Morritt, a journalist with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, and her son took an evacuation flight 950 miles to safety in Yukon province, while her partner stayed behind to monitor their property and help create firebreaks and fight fires.

“We knew it was only a matter of time,” Morritt said.

Authorities were concerned that Yellowknife’s only escape route could be cut off by the fires. About 2,600 people remained in the city, including emergency teams, firefighters, utility workers and police officers, along with residents who refused to leave.

The fires were unnerving for residents across the region, with plumes of smoke visible by day and an eerie orange nighttime glow.

Canada has seen a record number of wildfires this year that have caused choking smoke in parts of the U.S. All told, there have been more than 5,700 fires, which have burned more than 53,000 square miles from one end of Canada to the other, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.