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Hundreds of Canadians Die of British Colombia Heatwave, as Lightning Triggers More Wildfires

July, 2021 

 

Fires are raging north of the city of Kamloops, British Columbia, July 4, 2021 BBC Reut

Canada heatwave: Military on standby as lightning triggers more wildfires

BBC, July 4, 2021

The Canadian military is on standby to help evacuate residents in British Columbia where wildfires linked to a record-breaking heatwave threaten to engulf communities.

Emergency services say they are now trying to control more than 170 fires, many triggered by lightning strikes.

Many western areas are tinder-dry followed the unprecedented hot weather.

Meanwhile, at least two people are reported to have died in the village of Lytton that was destroyed by fire.

Lytton recorded Canada's highest-ever temperature of 49.6C (121.3F) on Tuesday.

Visual guide to the heatwave's causes How to look after yourself in hot weather

About 350 military personnel as well as aircraft are being readied to help threatened communities, Canadian defence Minister Harjit Sajjan told reporters.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held emergency talks with ministers as well as provincial and indigenous leaders from affected areas.

"We will be there to help," he said.

Large swathes of North America have seen a high-pressure "heat dome" in recent days, causing abnormally high temperatures. The heatwave has also affected Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories and northern Ontario.

Although linking any single event to global warming is complicated, experts say climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heat waves.

In British Columbia, evacuation orders and alerts are in place for several areas north of the city of Kamloops, 350km (220 miles) north-east of Vancouver where the worst fires are raging.

"We saw 12,000 lightning strikes, roughly, yesterday [Friday]," said Cliff Chapman, director of provincial operations for British Columbia Wildfire Service.

"Many of those lightning strikes were hitting near communities... in the Kamloops area," he said, according to broadcaster CBC.

On Saturday, the British Columbia Coroners Service confirmed that at least two people had died in Lytton where a wildfire on Wednesday evening forced many of its 250 residents to flee without their belongings.

Earlier, resident Jeff Chapman told CBC he had seen his parents killed by the fire as they sought refuge in a trench near their home.

Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman told the BBC: "Within about 15 minutes the whole town was engulfed in flames."

British Columbia Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said extreme heat was probably "a significant contributing factor" to a recent spike in deaths. The figure of 719 deaths was three times the average number.

"Many of the deaths experienced over the past week were among older individuals living alone in private residences with minimal ventilation," she said on Saturday.

Temperatures have eased in coastal areas but there is not much respite for inland regions. The British Columbia Wildfire Service said it was braced for more wildfires.

Canada heatwave: Military on standby as lightning triggers more wildfires - BBC News

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British Columbia sees 195% increase in sudden deaths during Canada heatwave

Chief coroner says more than 300 deaths could be attributed to the extreme temperatures

Leyland Cecco in Toronto

The Guardian, Wed 30 Jun 2021 20.58 EDT

At least 486 sudden deaths were reported over five days during British Columbia’s unprecedented heatwave, suggesting the extreme weather that affected western Canada in recent days was far deadlier than initially believed.

Typically, 165 sudden deaths would occur in the province over that period, the province’s chief coroner said, suggesting more than 300 deaths could be attributed to the heat. The new tally, announced on Wednesday, marks a 195% increase over normal years.

“While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to the extreme weather BC has experienced and continues to impact many parts of our province,” chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a statement.

Lapointe said the figures released on Wednesday were preliminary and would increase as coroners in communities across the province enter other death reports into the agency’s system.

“Our thoughts are with people who have lost loved ones” said prime minister Justin Trudeau, warning the blistering temperatures in a region of the country ill-prepared for such heat was a reminder of the need to address climate change.

“I’ve been a police officer for 15 years and I’ve never experienced the volume of sudden deaths that have come in such a short period of time,” police sergeant Steve Addison said in a news release.

Many of those who died over the five day period were seniors, lived alone and were found in residences that were hot and not well ventilated.

“People can be overcome by the effects of extreme heat quickly and may not be aware of the danger,” Lapointe said.

As they responded to hundreds of heat-related calls across greater Vancouver, police pleaded with the public to call 911 only for emergencies because heat-related deaths had depleted frontline resources and delayed response times.

The “heat dome” that blanketed much of western Canada and the United States broke 103 heat records across British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories on Monday.

The ‘heat dome’ explained: why the Pacific north-west is facing record temperatures Read more

The town of Lytton, British Columbia reached 49.5C (121.1F) on Tuesday, smashing the national record three days in a row. Lytton was evacuated on Wednesday night after a fire hit the town and threatened residential buildings.

“It’s dire - the whole town is on fire. It’s bad, I’ve never seen anything like this,” mayor Jan Polderman told CBC News as wildfires swept quickly towards the town of less than 300 people.

Amid concerns over the growing death toll in the province, officials said they had done their best to contact communities and officer resources, but conceded the heatwave was more intense than expected.

“What we’ve seen here is absolutely unprecedented,” Mike Farnsworth, the province’s public safety minister, told reporters. Heat-related deaths are rare in the province.

The heat was dangerous because it persisted throughout the night in many communities, giving residents little relief. Because of its typically mild climate, residents along the Pacific Coast often don’t install air conditioning units.

The chief coroner’s office is expected to provide updated figures on the sudden, unexpected deaths on Friday.

 This article was amended on 1 July 2021. The town of Lytton was evacuated on Wednesday night, not Thursday night as stated in an earlier version.

British Columbia sees 195% increase in sudden deaths during Canada heatwave | World news | The Guardian

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Canadian British Columbia heat wave saw 719 people die in one week, says B.C. coroner

  By Simon Little & Jordan Armstrong  

Global News Posted July 2, 2021 5:58 pm  

Global News Hour at 6 BC: B.C. Wildfire Service awaiting additional resources from back east The head of the B.C. Professional Firefighters Association is calling out what he says was a failed response to the extreme heat wave. Jordan Armstrong has more on why Gord Ditchburn says BC Emergency Health Services let people down - and why he feels the apology from its chief operating officer falls short.

The BC Coroners Service says at least 719 people died over a one-week period during B.C.’s scorching heat wave, three times more than would normally have been expected to die over the same period.

In a statement Friday, Chief Coroner Lisa LaPointe said many of those deaths were likely a result of the heat.

“We are releasing this information as it is believed likely the extreme weather B.C. has experienced in the past week is a significant contributing factor to the increased number of deaths,” LaPointe said.

“Today, the coroners service is seeing a downward trend from the number of deaths reported over the past few days, and we are hopeful this trend will continue.”

The update comes after Global News reported that BC Emergency Health Services, which operates the province’s paramedics, did not activate its 24/7 emergency coordination centre until Tuesday — the day after B.C.’s deadly heat wave began to subside.

The centre allows the service to re-prioritize work and re-deploy staff to focus on a crisis.

Amid the scorching heat, many British Columbians reported waiting for hours for ambulances, while others took it upon themselves to go to fire halls looking for help.

Suffocating heat wave blamed for nearly 500 deaths in B.C.

On Thursday, BC Emergency Health Services chief operating officer Darlene MacKinnon offered an apology to British Columbians who’d been left waiting.

“We know some people have waited too long for a response, and we sympathize and we apologize for that,” she said.

But MacKinnon also defended BCEHS’ performance during the crisis.

“We had all the powers we needed to respond to the heat wave. We were facing unprecedented challenges for our staff,” she said.

“It’s been incredibly hard, I think we’re incredibly proud of our staff, and I think we’ve done a very good job in the response.”

Another emergency services health horror story Another emergency services health horror story

Troy Clifford, president of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC union called the late opening of the coordination centre a “poor decision.”

“To respond after the fact indicates to me a lack of understanding of our true public safety emergency management component of our role or just poor decision making,” he said.

“I don’t know if they were caught off guard or just failed to look ahead.”

Gord Ditchburn, president of the B.C. Professional Firefighters Association told Global News he was unsatisfied with MacKinnon’s apology.

“She didn’t say what was going to happen next, what steps were going to be happening to make it better,” he said.

“What she left the public wondering was why, what, where, when how? None of those questions were answered and the apology was hollow.”

Ditchburn said front-line first responders had performed admirably, but that they had been let down by management.

He said if the province had been facing a larger disaster, the response would have been catastrophic.

Dozens of B.C. temperature records were shattered over the course of the heat wave, and the community of Lytton saw heat that broke the all-time temperature record for Canada on three consecutive days.

The coroners service is working to produce an in-depth report for the province on heat deaths, which will include recommendations about how to prevent similar deaths in the future.

B.C. heat wave saw 719 people die in one week, says B.C. coroner | Globalnews.ca

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Canada Lytton: Heatwave record village overwhelmingly burned in wildfire

BBC, July 2, 2021

media captionWatch: Lytton, British Columbia residents flee wildfires

A wildfire has burned 90% of the village that recorded Canada's highest ever temperature, the local MP says.

Brad Vis said the fire had caused extensive damage to Lytton, in British Columbia, and to surrounding critical infrastructure.

Jan Polderman, mayor of Lytton, told the BBC he had been "lucky to get out with my own life".

"There won't be very much left of Lytton," he said. "There was fire everywhere."

Mr Polderman told the BBC's Newshour programme his town was engulfed by a "wall of fire".

Experts say that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. However, linking any single event to global warming is complicated.

Lytton this week recorded the country's highest ever temperature of 49.6C (121.3F).

And abnormally high temperatures have been recorded in swathes of North America.

British Columbia, in western Canada, recorded 486 deaths over five days compared with an average of 165 in normal times.

Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe blamed the extreme weather. The western province had seen only three heat-related deaths over the past three to five years.

Many of those who died, Ms Lapointe said, had been living alone in unventilated homes.

Temperatures have been easing in coastal areas of Canada but there is not much respite for inland regions. The weather system is now moving eastwards over the Prairie provinces - Alberta and Saskatchewan and parts of Manitoba have been placed under Environment Canada heat warnings.

What happened in Lytton?

Residents fled on Wednesday, many without their belongings, as smoke and flame engulfed the village, which is home to about 250 people and located about 260km (162 miles) north-east of Vancouver.

"Within about 15 minutes the whole town was engulfed in flame," Mayor Polderman told the BBC.

"People basically just grabbed their pets, grabbed their keys and got into their car and fled."

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Winds of up to 71km/h (44 mph) were pushing the fire north into the community on Wednesday evening, CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe reported. Hot, dry and windy conditions in the area could mean the fire was moving at 10 or even 20km/h.

In a social media post on Thursday, MP Brad Vis said he would not be attending Canada Day activities because he was devoting all his time to the emergency situation.

"There are reports of several injuries. The situation is ongoing," he wrote.

Residents were being directed to nearby communities where reception centres were being set up, while the British Columbia Wildfire Service was diverting crews and equipment from other areas to respond to the fire.

Jean McKay, who left the First Nations community of Kanaka Bar, about 15km from Lytton, with her 22-year-old daughter Deirdre, told CBC how hard emotionally it had been to leave their home.

"I cried. My daughter cried. She said, 'I don't even know why I grabbed my key. We might not even have a home.' I said, 'Yeah I know. As long as we're together we'll survive.' I just pray that our houses are OK."

"You can't even comprehend it," Lytton evacuee Edith Loring-Kuhanga told CBC Radio. "Our entire town is gone."

Before the fire, Lytton had recorded the highest temperature ever seen in Canada on three consecutive days.

How dangerous was the heat elsewhere?

In Vancouver, British Columbia's biggest city, heat is believed to have been a contributing factor in the deaths of 65 people since Friday.

The city has opened 25 air-conditioned cooling centres where people have been resting or working from their laptops.

"I have no air conditioning, only a fan at home - I came here just to work where it's cool," one woman, who gave her name only as Lou, told AFP news agency.

In the US state of Oregon, health officials tied more than 60 deaths to the extreme heat while in Washington state, 20 deaths were attributed to the weather, the Associated Press reports.

Seattle, Portland and other cities broke all-time heat records, which climbed above 46C in places.

Both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Joe Biden warned of the threat of wildfires, with Mr Biden telling governors of western US states it was as "severe as it's ever been".

Can the heat be linked to climate change?

I've heard from scientists who say that in just a few days they'll be able to determine just how much human driven warming has contributed to the searing temperatures seen in British Columbia.

One interesting piece of evidence is the lack of respite that night brings - recent temperatures at midnight in BC have been 2C warmer than the normal summer daytime figure.

Researchers say this combination of day and night-time heat is very dangerous for humans - a study published last year indicated that these compound events are closely linked to emissions of greenhouse gases.

Natural variability and local factors such as sea breezes can raise or limit the impacts of extreme heat. But the bigger picture is the rising thermometer of global heating is impacting all events.

"Every heatwave occurring today is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change," Dr Friederike Otto from the University of Oxford told the BBC.

"Climate change is definitely one of the drivers of the intensity of this Canadian heatwave - but it is not the only one and determining how much it impacts it, is a work in progress."

Even if they can't directly attribute this heatwave to climate change, experts say the fingerprints of global heating are all over it.

Canada Lytton: Heatwave record village overwhelmingly burned in wildfire - BBC News

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