The BC Liberals are calling on Premier John Horgan to enact a provincial state of emergency due to the wildfires raging across the province.
“We’re only early into the season. We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve had a community of Lytton destroyed, we’ve had First Nations communities destroyed, we’ve had evacuations in Kamloops and the Castlegar area, and numerous other areas throughout the province here,” said Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris.
Morris said a state of emergency allows emergency workers to enter private property to do their job without requiring permission.
“We’ve had places where we’ve had firefighting equipment ready to go, but they were waiting for permission from the internal bureaucracy that they have within the services,” he added.
This comes after a fire burned down 90% of Lytton, claiming 2 lives.
According to the BC Wildfire Service in a teleconference yesterday:
- Since April 1st, 633 wildfires have been responded to
- Roughly 83,000 hectares have been burned
- 56% of the fires have been caused by humans
- 31% were caused by lighting, the remainder are to be determined
- 174 fires are currently burning across BC
- 81 of which were detected in the past 48 hours
BC Wildfire Service is receiving 100 out-of-province resources today (Monday) and is hoping to secure more aircraft shortly.
The Federal Government is also mobilizing 350 ground troops in Edmonton as a support post if BC requires them.