Wildfire leads to evacuation order in B.C. town that set Canadian heat wave record

LYTTON, B.C. – Residents of the British Columbia village of Lytton have been ordered to evacuate their homes due to a wildfire.

Mayor Jan Polderman issued the evacuation order Wednesday and said on Twitter that the wildfire was threatening structures and the safety of residents who dealt with a high temperature of 49.6 C on Tuesday.

“All residents are advised to leave the community and go to a safe location,” Polderman said. “Information regarding emergency support services will be announced as it becomes available.”

Erica Berg, a provincial fire information officer, said the evacuation order was issued about an hour after the blaze began but she did not know the size of it.

“We’re in intense response mode so our main priority is getting resources to the area,” she said.

The village smashed a Canadian record for high temperatures three days in a row this week during an ongoing historic heat wave have across parts of B.C.

Berg said earlier Wednesday that wildfire service members were battling another small fire near Lytton, in the same area where crews have been working to control the 0.5-square kilometre George Road fire, which forced evacuation alerts after breaking out last week.

The blaze was among three major wildfires in British Columbia’s southern Interior.

The BC Wildfire Service said the McKay Creek fire had charred 50 square kilometres in the Pavilion area just north of Lillooet, while flames had burned at least 40 square kilometres around Sparks Lake, about 15 kilometres north of Kamloops.

The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District issued evacuation orders for more than two dozen properties west of Pavilion. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District posted orders for 18 properties in the Sparks Lake area outside Kamloops, while about 150 nearby camps and cabins were on alert.

All three fires are suspected to be human-caused, although they remained under investigation.

Berg said in northeastern B.C., nine wildfires had been reported since lightning storms swept through the region Monday and Tuesday, forcing an evacuation alert for properties near a 48 square-kilometre fire, which was a merging of two blazes in the Pink Mountain area north of Prince George.

Heat warnings remain in effect for much of B.C.

Berg said there have been 26 new fires in the last two days as the risk across most of the province is rated at high to extreme.

Campfires were banned across the province as of noon Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2021.