Symbolic imageBritish Columbia declares emergency as wildfire drives 20,000 from Okanagan Valley
A fast-moving wildfire near Okanagan Lake has forced more than 20,000 people from their homes in British Columbia. The province declared a state of emergency on Saturday.
The Bald Range fire near Okanagan Lake in southern British Columbia was first reported early on Friday evening, 7 August, and has since burned more than 10,000 hectares. Provincial premier David Eby said on Saturday that it remains "extremely active", that homes and property have been lost and that some residents were trapped as conditions changed. Air evacuations are under way for people cut off, and CTV News reported that more than 50 residents were flown out of the community of Faulder.
Province declares state of emergency
Emergency management minister Kelly Greene declared the provincial state of emergency as the fires grew, Reuters reported. Prime minister Mark Carney said on X that Ottawa stands ready to support the province and praised firefighters.
The deadly reach of the smoke
Smoke from blazes in northern Ontario turned Toronto's sky orange and reached the US east coast weeks earlier. The Guardian reports that landscape fire smoke kills 1.5 million people a year, according to a 2024 Lancet study, and that plumes from Canada's 2023 fires were linked to 82,000 early deaths in a study in Nature.
Other opinions
All available sources are Western: Reuters and The Telegraph foreground the evacuation, The Guardian and Le Monde the climate.