B.C. to end state of emergency as wildfire risk winds down
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 14 Sep, 2023 05:12 PM
The British Columbia government says it is ending the state of emergency imposed last month when thousands of residents were chased out of their homes by wildfires.
The government says in a statement the wildfire risk is diminishing in much of the province as temperatures cool, allowing most residents to return home.
Rain and cooler weather over much of British Columbia has prompted two fire centres in the southern and central Interior to roll back campfire bans. The Kamloops and Cariboo fire centres say the Category 1 open fire ban will lift at noon Friday, covering blazes no larger than 1.5-metres high by 1.5-metres wide.
Kelowna R-C-M-P say the 17-year-old driver was caught on the morning of June 14 travelling at 115 kilometres in a grey Volkswagen Jetta. Police say they pulled the driver over and issued him a three-hundred-68-dollar fine, while also impounding his car.
Richmond R-C-M-P say the incident happened on June 7th just before midnight, when the victim got off a bus and was about to cross King Road. Police say the male suspect then grabbed the woman from behind and brandished a knife, according to the victim.
Thanks to recent rain and favourable winds, Tumbler Ridge's roughly 2,000 residents were allowed to return home Thursday when the evacuation order was lifted. There was also good news in Alberta, where an evacuation order was being lifted in the town of Edson, allowing more than 8,000 people to return home.
Premier David Eby told a news conference Thursday that the forecast that calls for the additional 3,000 gigawatt hours per year of renewable energy is three years earlier than previously estimated.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside says 18 of the beds have been added at the Phoenix Society in Surrey and six at the Covenant House in Vancouver. The beds in Surrey are for men in the province between 17 and 24-years old -- with an average stay of three to six months.