Tens of thousands flee western Canada wildfires

Firefighters managed to contain wildfires close to the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories and another city in British Columbia on Saturday. However, with predictions of an upcoming shift to drier and windier conditions thesituation remains grim.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that the latest wildfires have caused "terrible loss," after meeting evacuees from the far-north city of Yellowknife as they arrived in Edmonton, Alberta.

Tens of thousands of people in the Northwest Territories and British Columbia scrambled to evacuate Saturday as raging fires encroached on two metropolitan areas

Canada is experiencing a record-setting wildfire season, with more than 1,000 active wildfires burning across the country as of Friday, over half of them out of control.

Four people have died so far and officials say over 13.7 million hectares (33.9 million acres) of land have been scorched.

What is the latest from the Northwest Territories?

Around 19,000 people were evacuated from Yellowknife to Alberta province over the past two days — over 15,000 of them by road, while 3,800 have been airlifted, officials said.

The city, home to some 20,000, was largely a ghost town following the largest-ever evacuation from the region.

"We're by no means out of the woods yet," wildfire information officer Mike Westwick told the Associated Press. "We still have a serious situation. It's not safe to return."

On Saturday, air tankers continued to drop water and fire retardant on the flames.

Around 1,000 essential staff have remained to erect defenses from the flames.

A 10-kilometer (6-mile) fire line was dug, and firefighters deployed 20 kilometers (12 miles) of hose and a plethora of pumps in the fight to keep the fire at bay.

The Canadian military has been drafted in to help.

The fires had been expected to reach the city by Saturday but overnight rain brought a sharp dip in temperatures.

Long lines of cars had crammed onto the lone highway connecting the area to Alberta province to the south ahead of the Friday deadline.

Airtankers flew several missions overnight to help keep the highway open, as fires burned on either side of the road.

What is the latest from British Columbia?

Some 35,000 people in British Columbia were under an evacuation order on Saturday, while a further 30,000 were under evacuation alert.

"The current situation is grim," Premier Daniel Eby told reporters.

The wildfires in British Columbia are centered around the city of Kelowna, 300 kilometers (180 miles) east of Vancouver, along with the Westbank First Nation communities.

One of the blazes, around West Kelowna, which sits across Lake Okanagan, grew more than a hundredfold in just 24 hours, broadcaster CBC said.

The fire destroyed several properties, including the Lake Okanagan Resort.

Exceedingly thick smoke meanwhile made it difficult for firefighters to respond effectively, Nicole Bonnett, a BCWS fire information officer said Saturday.

Eby said the province is in dire need of shelter for both evacuees and firefighters, and he has ordered a ban on non-essential travel to make more temporary accommodation available.

Some 5,000 customers are also without electricity in interior British Columbia due to the fires, the main utility company said.

Kelowna is nestled in the Okanagan Valley which is home to some of the country's top wineries.

Climate change making wildfires more intense

Experts say climate change, driven by emissions from fossil fuel use, has exacerbated the wildfire problem.

Much of Canada has been experiencing abnormally dry conditions. Drought and high temperatures have been a contributing factor to the number and intensity of this year's fires, according to officials.

At the same time, the thousands of fires burning in Canada have also emitted an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide.

Earlier this year, suburbs of Halifax on the Atlantic coast were also evacuated due to fires, which contributed to choking smoke in parts of the United States.

zc, mm/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters)