The Young Creek wildfire seen from the air. British Columbia is expecting the arrival of 100 firefighters from Brazil today, adding to the province's growing international wildfire force.BC wildfire service/The Canadian Press
Environment Canada is forecasting intense heat in most of Canada’s west and north this weekend, including in British Columbia where hundreds of residents remain under wildfire evacuation orders and alerts while crews work to protect the international airport in Cranbrook.
The brush and trees around the facility have been scorched in an all-out effort to protect the vital transportation link from an encroaching wildfire, airport manager Tristen Chernove said Friday.
Wildfire crews were at the Canadian Rockies International Airport in southeastern B.C. overnight Friday monitoring the fires that were purposely lit to guard the facility from the out-of-control St. Mary’s River fire, he said.
“Last night there were some further ignitions done very close to the airport, which visually can look pretty dramatic, but it was all under control,” he said. “The airport itself, while we are in the midst of a lot of smoke, as far as fuel load around us, we are actually quite protected.”
The country’s westernmost province is bearing the brunt of the wildfire season now, with 401 of Canada’s 908 fires burning there as of Friday. More than half of those are considered out of control and, together, they’ve forced the residents of approximately 274 homes to flee and those in another 885 homes to remain on standby, according to government officials.
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In the East Kootenay region, the quickly growing St. Mary’s River wildfire ignited on Monday and destroyed seven homes in Aq’am First Nation. The fire more than tripled in size Thursday from 8.5 to 26 square kilometres and has put 135 homes under evacuation alert and another 67 under evacuation order.
On Friday, dozens of vehicles, a handful of mobile medical treatment trucks and a helicopter were stationed in a clearing near the St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino, a former residential school. Small firefighting teams from across the province have converged on the smoke-filled area to help.
Staffing has been a challenge for the BC Wildfire Service. It has had to call on aid from Mexico, the United States and Australia, who have supplied around 500 firefighting personnel so far. About 150 Canadian Armed Forces members arrived in the province earlier in the week and the Canadian Coast Guard is set to supply a helicopter. B.C. is also expecting 100 firefighters from Brazil on Friday.
Carrie Tait