Wildfire burning on the edge of a mountain in Lytton, British Columbia, can be seen from the Trans-Canada Highway on Thursday. Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP Hide caption
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Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP
Wildfire burning on the edge of a mountain in Lytton, British Columbia, can be seen from the Trans-Canada Highway on Thursday.
Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Officials on Friday searched for missing residents of a British Columbia city that was devastated by wildfire when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered federal aid.
The provincial coroner’s service said it had received reports of two deaths related to the fire but was unable to send coroners to confirm this as “the area is still unsafe”. It was said that it was planned to send them in on Saturday.
The approximately 1,000 residents of Lytton had to leave their homes within minutes on Wednesday evening after suffering from a record high of 49.6 degrees Celsius the previous day.
Officials said it was unclear whether anyone stayed in the village 95 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver because there was no cell service and it was not safe to enter most of the area.
Alfred Higginbottom of the Skuppah Indian Band, a Nlaka’pamux First Nations government, observes the conflagration in Lytton, BC. Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP Hide caption
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Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP
Alfred Higginbottom of the Skuppah Indian Band, a Nlaka’pamux First Nations government, observes the conflagration in Lytton, BC.
Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press via AP
“We know there are some people who are missing,” said Mike Farnworth, the provincial public security secretary, despite the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Red Cross were working to track down people.
The region’s premier wireless operator, Telus Corp., announced Friday that it had provided emergency communications equipment to help authorities and emergency teams deal with the forest fires.
Meanwhile, a woman who escaped the fire said she did not even have time to put on shoes before escaping.
The Canadian press reported that Noeleen McQuary-Budde said her husband stepped out of the house and returned moments later yelling that there was a fire over them and that they should leave.
She said black smoke poured down the village main street and fire seemed to come from all directions as they drove out of town with 11 other people in the back of their pickup truck.
“The whole village of Lytton is up in ten minutes, I would say,” she said.
“We watched it burn and just thanked the Creator for getting out.”
The couple spent the night in the field of a recreation center in nearby Lillooet with their 55-pound dog Daisy.
In Ottawa, Trudeau promised that the federal government “will help rebuild and help people get through it.”
Trudeau said he had spoken to British Columbia Prime Minister John Horgan and John Haugen, incumbent chief of the Lytton First Nation, and planned to set up an emergency response group.
Another forest fire hazard in Kamloops, 220 miles (355 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver, forced an evacuation of about 200 people Thursday evening, but officials said they could return on Friday.
Kamloops also posted a record of its temperature of 117 Fahrenheit (47.3 Celsius) this week, but by Friday it had cooled to around 90 (32).
“I can’t imagine what firefighters go through at work in these conditions,” said Noelle Kekula, a fire intelligence officer for the British Columbia Wildfire Service. “We are ready for a real fight.”
The Wildfire Service said at least 106 fires were burning in the province, including dozen that had broken out only in the past two days.
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