With temperatures rising, wildfire season is upon us this weekend!
Western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, has seen dozens of wildfires break out! As a result, thousands of residents were forced to evacuate and displaced.
In particular, in parts of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, telecommunications were disrupted so badly that even 911 emergency services were affected.
BC Smalltown was evacuated urgently
A wildfire was reported in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, on Friday (10th).
The fire was spotted about 12 kilometers west of a community in northeastern B.C. Friday afternoon and has been spreading rapidly ever since.
By Saturday (11th), the fire had doubled! It has spread to an area of nearly 1,700 hectares, resulting in the emergency evacuation of 3,600 people.
The fire spread rapidly amid the province's high temperatures, with the B.C. Forest Fire Service saying it was less than 3.5 kilometers from the town on Saturday morning.
Authorities implemented a tactical evacuation last night, with some people living in the northwestern part of the community leaving their homes for only a few minutes, CTV News reported.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on Friday, the local government said on social media: "Residents are advised to evacuate the area immediately and head south towards Fort St. John." ”
"If you have your own vehicle, plan to refuel along the southern route, and if you have the capacity to carry others, consider helping transport other passengers."
Those who are unable to drive themselves are urged to call 250-775-0933 for support. Call 911 for emergencies.
Among the people who were evacuated were Deborah Erskine and her child, Nova.
"It was a crazy experience," she said. The smoke was very thick. The road is densely packed with cars. ”
Normally, this journey takes about four hours, but due to the smoke, it took them almost six hours to reach the town of Fort St. John, arriving around 3 a.m.
Those who could afford to move on, were urged to travel another 440 kilometers south to Prince George's City, British Columbia, where a reception center had already opened for those fleeing Fort Nelson.
The fire, now known as the Parker Lake fire, is considered a notable wildfire because it is so clearly a threat to public safety.
The BC Wildfire Service has responded to the wildfires with four teams and one team of firefighters, nine helicopters in the air, and incident management teams and structural protection specialists are on the scene to assist.
The wildfires are clearly visible from Highway 97, which is affecting the highway and is closed on Saturday afternoons on Highway 97 and 77.
There have long been fears that this year will be a "challenging" forest fire season, as months of drought across the province and continued hot and dry summers are expected.
Environment Canada doesn't expect rain in the region until next Wednesday night, and only a 60% chance of rain is expected that night and Thursday.
It is reported that the fire was caused by a strong wind that caused a tree to fall and hit a power line. Then the wind burned the fire so fiercely that the firefighters could not control the fire. Winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour on Friday night accelerated the spread of the fire.
Fort Nelson is located near B.C.'s border with Yukon, about 1,600 kilometers northeast of Vancouver and 500 kilometers north of Prince George.
Communication is lost
According to the CBC, parts of the Yukon and Northwest Territories suffered severe telecommunications disruptions, including 911 emergency services, due to the wildfires at Fort Nelson and another fire near Fort Liard N.W.T. in the Northwest Territories.
On Friday night, telecommunications provider Northwestel first announced a communications outage.
As of Saturday morning, the provider confirmed that cell phone service, long-distance landlines and internet were still paralyzed in the northern Yukon Territory of British Columbia, as well as in the Beaufort Delta and Mackenzie Delta regions of the Northwest Territories.
Long-distance calls have also decreased in the Nunavut region.
Residents of many communities in the Northwest Territory, including Liadburg and Jean Marie River, have also reported failures in internet, cellphone and landline services. The network in Hay River was also down, and landlines were unable to receive calls from outside the community, but cell service was not affected.
In addition, even 911 emergency services in the Northwest Territories and Yukon have been disrupted!
Alberta wildfires
Meanwhile, B.C.'s neighbor, Alberta, has also been affected by wildfires near Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, causing air quality to deteriorate dramatically in much of northern the province.
Smoke from wildfires has caused air quality to reach "very high risk" levels.
As of 11 a.m. Saturday, there were 54 wildfires burning across the province, two of which were out of control, according to Alberta wildfire information.