B.C. Premier Clark fears raging wildfires new norm, blames climate change

Another aggressive blaze near Ashcroft fuelled by hot, dry conditions and strong winds prompted an evacuation alert covering nearly 30 homes and another alert has residents on edge in the Bear Creek area near Kelowna. She said so far this year the province has spent $163 million fighting the fires and could spend as much as $400 million.

The premier said because of the province’s $1.7-billion surplus this year, the expense should not put it into deficit.

The 430-hectare Westside Road fire is relatively small, but it has raised alarms because it is burning in a residential area near Kelowna, bringing back memories of the Okanagan Mountain firestorm that suddenly swept into the city in 2003, destroying more than 200 homes.

QUIZ: Do you remember these extreme B.C. weather events? “It’s made us much more vulnerable to fire”, said Clark.

As of this afternon, July 22, 19 B.C. Wildfire firefighters, two helicopters, one piece of heavy equipment and five air tankers were working the fire.

Kelsey Winter, fire information officer at the fire centre in Kamloops, said fire crews were being dispatched to confirm reports of multiple new fires in the Salmon Arm Fire Zone alone, including those at Wap Creek, Grassy Lake and Mabel Lake. “They all know how they interrelate because sadly we are doing this every year now, but boy we do it better than anybody else in the world”.

The government has begun a review of the fines that can be imposed on those who cause forest fires with irresponsible campfires or by discarding cigarette butts.

Glen Burgess, the incoming incident commander for the Westside Road fire, said they’ve been unable to contain any area of the blaze, but the number of personnel has increased three-fold since Monday.

Mr. Skrepnek said the fire risk in B.C.is now worse in the south than in the north because of weather.

Burgess said firefighters are making progress and protecting homes remains the priority.

The B.C. Ministry of Environment has issued an air quality advisory for the Okanagan region in the province’s southern Interior because of smoke from nearby wildfires.

“The fire came really close to some of the structures”, said Regional District spokesman Bruce Smith.