Wildfire activity exacerbated, vulnerable people at risk as temperatures soar

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Western and Atlantic provinces were under heat warnings Sunday as temperatures were expected to get near 30 degrees Celsius or more, exacerbating wildfire activity and putting vulnerable people at risk.

Environment Canada posted extreme heat-related alerts for most of Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, along with parts of British Columbia.

In B.C., the federal agency issued warnings for Fort Nelson and southern Fraser Canyon, including Lytton, as well as the inland sections of the central and north coasts, including Kitimat and Terrace. Temperatures reached about 35 degrees in southern Fraser Canyon and the Okanagan Valley over the weekend, and parts of the Interior and Peace regions are expected to remain above seasonable temperatures early this week.

It comes on the heels of a new report by the Canadian Climate Institute that found B.C.’s 2021 heat wave that killed 619 people was not only the deadliest disaster in the province’s history, but one of the costliest when those lives are factored in – and warned that governments across Canada need to prepare for extreme heat.

Climate hazards, including heatwaves and wildfire activity, have intensified across North America and are projected to continue to do so as the planet keeps getting warmer, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an international body of hundreds of climate scientists.

The planet’s average temperature reached a high of 17.01 degrees Celsius last Monday – breaking the previous record of 16.92 degrees set in August, 2016 – only to reach 17.23 degrees on Thursday, according to unofficial records from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, which uses data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

“We are seeing above-average temperatures, we’re also seeing a lot of lightning,” said Taylor Shantz, a wildfire information officer for B.C. Wildfires’ Kamloops fire centre. The region received more than 600 lightning strikes Friday, starting 11 new fires, she said.

There were more than 800 active wildfires across the country, with more than half deemed out of control around noon Sunday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), a sharp increase from the day before and fuelled mostly by new fires in B.C. The majority of new wildfires are believed to have a natural origin.

Several B.C. communities were under evacuation orders or alerts Sunday in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, the Cariboo Regional District, the Peace River Regional District, the Spallumcheen Township and the Takla Nation.

With more than nine million hectares of forest burned so far this year in Canada, 2023 is the worst wildfire season on record, CIFFC data show.

In most of New Brunswick, Environment Canada warned that “very warm and humid weather” continued Sunday with humidex values reaching 37 and maximum temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. Similar conditions were expected in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

Most of Alberta, including Calgary and Edmonton, was under heat warnings Sunday, with highs of 30 degrees expected before temperatures moderate Monday.

City of Calgary spokesperson Joni Delaurier said anyone could visit several designated “cool-down locations” in places like libraries and aquatic centres. He added that city officials were working with social services and community groups to assist homeless people and that shelters still had capacity.

City of Edmonton spokesperson Amanda Krumins said the threshold for an “Extreme Weather Response” was not yet met as the heat wave must last for at least three days for the city to trigger such exceptional measures, but that people could access water bottle-filling stations across the city. “On hot days like today, we encourage Edmontonians to check in on older family, friends and neighbours,” she said.

Environment Canada warned that children, pregnant women, seniors, outdoor workers and individuals with various pre-existing health problems or who are socially isolated are particularly vulnerable to heat waves.

The report by the Canadian Climate Institute focused on the deadly 2021 heat wave in B.C. but said the disaster offers important lessons for governments across Canada.

Titled The Case for Adapting to Extreme Heat and published in June, the report argued that government and health authorities should account for the human and financial costs of extreme heat in policy cost-benefit analyses, as heat is often a lower priority than other climate-driven events such as wildfires and floods.

During the 2021 heat wave, the value of life lost is estimated at $5.5-billion, with health care costs amounting to another $12-million, the report found.

Without action on climate adaptation, extreme heat could kill an average of 1,370 people per year in B.C. by 2030, with a societal cost of $12.2-billion per year in lives lost and an additional $11-million per year in health care costs. Hospitalizations could reach nearly 6,000 per year, at a cost of at least $100-million.

The report recommended governments urgently deploy mechanical cooling and urban greening to help maintain safe indoor temperatures, incorporate extreme heat into critical infrastructure decision making and update occupational standards to account for heat.

It also highlighted the need for government and public agencies to deliver timely heat warnings, and to create clear standards to guide patient triaging and resource allocation when demand exceeds capacity.

B.C. recently announced $10-million to BC Hydro to provide 8,000 air conditioning units over three years to people who are low-income and medically vulnerable to heat.

It has also invested in community-based climate mitigation initiatives and ventilation upgrades to long-term care facilities, launched a direct-to-cellphone heat alert and response system and created an extreme heat preparedness guide.

Changes to the B.C. Building Code that would require all new homes to have one living space that is designed not to exceed 26 degrees are expected by the end of the year.