- As the fire spread to the area, people from the village of Lytton were evacuated.
- The fire is said to threaten the safety of buildings and residents.
- The heat wave continued to move eastward to the prairies of central Canada.
Hundreds of people were evacuated in western Canada as the fire intensified an unprecedented heat wave in the area, where the area has been baking at record temperatures for several days.
As the fire spread rapidly, Litton Village, 250 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, was evacuated on Wednesday night.
The day before the fire broke out, the village in British Columbia had a record high temperature of 49.6 degrees Celsius in Canada on Tuesday.
“Fire… is threatening the safety of buildings and residents,” Mayor Jan Bodman said in a statement signed on Wednesday.
The Governor of British Columbia, John Hogan, commented on Twitter:
The current fire situation is very dangerous. Emergency rescuers are doing their best to support the Litton people.
The evacuation order was extended to residents of about 100 properties north of Lytton on Wednesday night.
In an announcement issued Thursday morning for the Prince George, British Columbia area, Environment Canada said: “The unusually strong ridge of high pressure over British Columbia will continue to bring record temperatures in the coming days.
“The duration of this heat wave is worrying because the night temperature rises and there is little relief at night,” it added.
On Thursday, the heat wave continued to move eastward to the prairies of central Canada.
In addition to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, parts of the Northwest Territories, and now northern Ontario have also issued heatwave warnings.
In addition to Western Canada, Washington and Oregon in the United States have also been sultry at record high temperatures this week, with hundreds of people reportedly dying suddenly.
