Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vehicle fire spreads, prompts evacuation alert

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 12 Aug, 2022 02:16 PM
  • Vehicle fire spreads, prompts evacuation alert

Residents of about a dozen properties along a stretch of Highway 3 in British Columbia's southern Interior are being asked to get ready to evacuate at a moment's notice after a vehicle fire quickly spread to nearby grasses and trees.

The BC Wildfire Service website shows the fire has so far charred about 30 hectares, under half a kilometre square, along the route south of Cawston.

The evacuation alert issued by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen covers properties along the highway and Sumac Road, west of Richter Mountain.

Severe thunderstorms have been rolling through B.C.'s Interior, delivering hundreds of lightning strikes to areas already ranked at a high to extreme risk for wildfires.

The wildfire service website shows 45 new fires have been recorded in the last two days, including one suspected lightning-caused blaze near Monte Lake, the same area where a massive wildfire destroyed homes last year.

The new fires remain small, but more lightning is in the forecast for areas of southern and southeastern B.C., such as Penticton, where a 67-square-kilometre wildfire has forced evacuation orders and alerts.

The wildfire service has warned that gusty winds linked to thunderstorms can increase fire behaviour, but it says containment lines are stable on the southern and eastern flanks of the fire nearest to the communities of Keremeos and Olalla.

At the height of Thursday's thunderstorms, Environment Canada says Kamloops recorded a wind gust of 82 kilometres per hour, while gusts in Merritt reached nearly 60 kilometres per hour and the city was drenched by more than 23 millimetres of rain, causing some localized flooding.

Thunderstorms on Wednesday also brought heavy rain to areas around Lytton, which was damaged by wildfires last year, causing mudslides that have covered the Trans-Canada Highway, closing the route between Lytton and Spences Bridge.

Severe thunderstorm watches remain in place for much of the southeastern Interior, from the Similkameen and Okanagan regions to the East Kootenays.

MORE National ARTICLES

IHIT identifies Surrey taxi shooting passenger as David Chavez-Jara

IHIT identifies Surrey taxi shooting passenger as David Chavez-Jara
Mounties say the passenger who died has been identified as a 30 year old David Chavez-Jara of Surrey. Chavez-Jara was well known to police and was recently convicted on Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking. 

IHIT identifies Surrey taxi shooting passenger as David Chavez-Jara

Family wants Walker extradited from U.S. to Canada

Family wants Walker extradited from U.S. to Canada
Dawn Walker, 48, is facing two charges in Oregon related to identity fraud along with two charges in Saskatoon of child abduction and public mischief. She was arrested Friday when she and her seven-year-old son were found in Oregon City, Ore., after a two-week search.

Family wants Walker extradited from U.S. to Canada

Cool weather brings some B.C. fires under control

Cool weather brings some B.C. fires under control
Crews are making progress on several wildfires in the province, including a blaze near Lytton that broke out nearly a month ago and destroyed several properties. But BC Wildfire Service information officer Mikhail Elsay told a news conference Wednesday that crews are still having a difficult fight with the 68-square-kilometre fire southwest of Penticton in the Okanagan.

Cool weather brings some B.C. fires under control

World food crisis prompts rise in child marriages

World food crisis prompts rise in child marriages
Plan International Canada says it has seen a worrying increase in the number of teenage girls in the developing world being forced into marriage because their families cannot afford to feed them. The agency says 12 million girls under the age of 18 become child brides each year, forcing them to abandon school while putting their health at risk through early pregnancies.

World food crisis prompts rise in child marriages

Coroner lists 16 suspected heat deaths in B.C.

Coroner lists 16 suspected heat deaths in B.C.
A report from the service on deaths says the fatalities happened between July 26 and Aug. 3, although the numbers are considered preliminary until investigations into each case conclude. The report shows all but two of the deaths happened in the Interior or Fraser health regions and involved victims aged 40 to over 90, with six in their 70s.

Coroner lists 16 suspected heat deaths in B.C.

West Fraser cuts mill shifts, 147 jobs in B.C.

West Fraser cuts mill shifts, 147 jobs in B.C.
The job cuts, expected to take place over the fourth quarter, come as the company permanently cuts about 170 million board feet of combined production at its Fraser Lake and Williams Lake sawmills and about 85 million square feet of plywood production at its Quesnel operation.

West Fraser cuts mill shifts, 147 jobs in B.C.