Thank you for listening to depictions media radio, and thank you for listening to
policy and racier and depictions media radio. Fire wildfire update for British Columbia.
There are several raging fires that are affecting of course Colonna, West Cologna.
There are other fires that are affecting the Okanagan, and there are fires that
are also affecting the shoe shop area and can loops in British Columbia. And
there are also some reports that I've found one especially where the fire services are
asking people they see equipment to leave it alone, do not move it,
okay, on a series note, that's just crazy, stupid. You know,
the firefighters are putting this equipment in places so that they can protect people's
home, their property, their businesses, and to move it is just outrageous.
It's there for a reason and they need it to remain there so that
when they have this equipment mapped out, they actually have a coordinance where where
this equipment is. It's mapped out so that they can share those coordinates with
other firefighters so they know what equipment is where, so that they can put
the fire out, stop it from spreading, save people's lives, save people's
properties. So you're going to hear Premier David Eby say this leave it alone.
And he's also going to talk about that they're going to add police presents
to set equipment so that it don't get moved. Lead the equipment alone anyway.
So they are going to be issuing orders about travel advisories, and there
are going to be some travel advisories that are going to have some legal effects
to them that if you go into certain areas as say West Kelowna and Kelowna,
that there are going to well they whatever whatever the charge would be there,
or there are will be charges put against you for traveling into those areas
because you will be disrupting the fire efforts. So why don't we listen to
what we said in this press conference? It is an hour long, it
does have a lot of instructions to it, and especially if you live in
the areas that are affected by the fire, you might want to actually just
sit down and listen to it entirely and take some notes. So did you
know what's what's going on? Especially if you are in the Shoe Schwap area,
you are in the Colonial Colonal area, can Loops areas where where these
fires are really raging. So get a pen and paper, take some notes
and be ready to listen. I shouldn't slay with tooth. People can see
everybody here today. It's been a difficult twenty four hours in the province for
our frontline first responders, for the wildfire fighters, and also for communities,
for families, for people affected by evacuation orders. While we're expecting some more
favorable weather, I understand the situation is still incredibly serious across the province.
PC Wildfire Service and their partners are actively working on fires across the province,
including in Fraser Canyon, Shoe, swap Okanagan am More. We have our
first assessment in from West Polonna only that at least fifty structures are confirmed destroyed
by fire in that area. This is the first formal assessment. It's reasonable
to assume that most, if not all, of these structures are homes,
which means that these homes are gone. These are families who have lost everything.
It is also probably news that is only going to get worse as assessments
continue. This is just our first assessment of the West Colonna. There are
other communities that have lost homes and those assessments will come in and that information
will be provided as it comes available. A heavy urban search and rescue team
it's now working in the Kelowna area providing those assessments to local government to get
that information and those answers to people who are waiting for that news and in
order for us to be able to move people home when they can and when
it's safe. Tomorrow, I'll be traveling with Minister Ralston and Minister maw to
fire affected areas. Our goal is to reassure people that we will be there
when the crisis passes to help them rebuild, but also to get information from
the front line about what communities need to ensure the government is as responsive as
possible. We're working closely with the federal government as well on supporting people in
the aftermath of this horrific disaster that they're facing. For British Columbians, we
need everybody to really do their part right now, listen to and respect the
travel order. It is critical that we keep the roads clear, the hotels
available for people, and be cautious out there is a very dangerous and fluid
situation. Still, please understand this is a very stressful situation for people in
these local areas. The last thing they need is disaster tourists coming and interfering
with rescue efforts. We need to understand that people in these communities need the
compassionate concern of all British Columbians and certainly that is what we're seeing. Unfortunately,
we are getting reports that some people are tampering with firefighter equipment, moving
it to different locations where they think it might be more needed. And we'll
put the best possible understanding on this that people think they're helping, they are
not. You're not helping if you're moving firefighter equipment. Firefighters are experts.
The equipment is put there for a reason, and when it's not there when
the firefighters go to get it, that is a big problem. So please
do not tamper with firefighter equipment. We have also had isolated reports of mischief
in some areas, including theft, and so there will be increased enforcement by
the RCMP in areas where we have seen those reports. And closing, I
just want to say that we're very grateful for the hope that's been provided to
community members by frontline firefighters who are putting their lives on the line to support
community members it is hard earned, and their local government officials and First Nations
leadership and members who are on the front line supporting right now getting information out.
Thank you to everybody who's doing that critically important work across the province right
now. There's also an incredible amount of hope coming from the actions of British
Columbians supporting each other. We see people donating blankets, pet food to people
that are in emergency shelters, in evacuation sites, looking after pets, looking
after livestock. Just so great to see British Columbians coming together like that.
The firefighters in Scott Creek lost their fire hall and they are still in the
front lines fighting fires right now. It's a shared fight out there right now.
We'll get through it together and I'm very grateful to everybody who's help,
who's helping to respond in every way that they can. With that all turn
things over to Minister Moth for her update. Thank you so much. Premier.
Hello everyone, I'm honored to be speaking to all of you today from
the territories of Musquam, the Squamish and the Slaga took people's first and foremost.
I want to express my heart felt condolences to everybody impacted by the ongoing
wildfire situation, those who have learned they have lost their homes and belongings in
the wake of the devastating fires that we've experienced all the past weekend, and
those who are still waiting for news. The pain, the sorrow, the
uncertainty that you must be feeling is immeasurable, and I want you to know
that we are with you during this incredibly difficult time. I'd like to recognize
the heroic efforts of the BC wild Service firefighters, Local Department Wildfires, Local
Department firefighters and volunteer firefighters who have worked tirelessly over the past seventy two hours
and all season to protect people and keep community safe. Some of these brave
firefighters had to witness their own homes succumbed to flames while they turned their attention
to protecting the homes of their neighbors and fellow community members. To go through
that emotional toil while selflessly protecting the homes of their neighbors and community members speaks
to the character of our firefighting community. These brave men and women are demonstrating
the meaning of courage in the face of the worst wildfire season in British Columbias
history. I'd also like to acknowledge our RCMP officers, emergency management personnel,
emergency support services personnel and volunteers healthcare professionals for working throughout the weekend to protect
people. It miss the challenges that we are facing. The spirit of the
community throughout British Columbia has been shining. Has been a shining beacon of hope.
The stories I've heard of the generosity and compassion provided to support people and
families has been inspiring. People have opened their hearts and their homes to their
neighbors. Businesses and restaurants have been bending over backwards to support their communities.
I know many of the accommodation providers, restaurants and other businesses have extended their
hours to accommodate the needs of the people. People from all walks of life
are coming together to care, protect and support one another. This is a
team effort and it is exactly what we need. Thank you. As of
this morning, there are more than twenty seven thousand people under evacuation order and
more and thirty five thousand on evacuation alert. This highlights the scale of the
challenge that our emergency management teams and first responders are facing Their coordinated efforts have
been nothing short of remarkable. The wildfire situation continues to be extremely serious,
impacting tens of thousands of people. I know that some people in the Cologna
area have had to wait at the emergency Reception center during this difficult time.
Evacuees waiting for services have been very patient as local authorities work through this monumental
effort. We have been taking action along with the local authority who runs the
center, to get support to people faster. The number of emergency Support volunteers
on the ground in Cologna has been doubled since Friday. There are now more
local volunteers working as quickly as possible through evacue applications and to help speed up
this process and ensure that everyone has a place to stay. We are also
starting to send part of me. We have already started to send evacuees the
queue to their accommodations immediately. Some people started getting phone calls and emails yesterday
afternoon with these direct accommodation placements, and the local authority expects to that process
to be complete today. Emergency Support Services volunteers will then follow up over the
next couple of days to formalize the referrals process. Several communities have also stepped
up to provide virtual supports in order to help register people, and we're very
grateful to them. When possible, I'm asking everyone in the interior, as
well as the southeast and across British Columbia to please preregister with Emergency Support Services
online at EESS gov doc dot CAA. I want to thank people for their
patients during this difficult time. Everyone will be taken care of. We hope
that the darkest days are behind us, but the situation is still evolving and
the dangers we face are still extreme. By taking the steps to be prepared
by following evacuation orders and alerts, you are doing everything that you can to
protect your community. Please continue to be prepared, have an emergency plan and
a grabbing go kit ready for you, your family and your pets. Your
first nation or local authority will provide information on an evacuation roots and evacuation reception
centers where you can access emergency support services. I know that this is said
every time that we are up here, but it bears repeating because I cannot
stress it enough. If you are under an evacuation order, you must leave
immediately. This isn't a suggestion, it is the law. You may think
that you are helping yourself or your neighbors by staying behind or supporting individuals who
are staying behind with food or supply runs, but you are not. You're
making a highly dangerous situation even more dangerous for everyone involved. I want to
thank everybody who has been heating the evacuation orders and leaving in a safe,
orderly manner. But for those who are not heed this call, leave,
do not stay behind. On Friday, we declared a provincial state of emergency
given the severe and fast changing circumstances that we are in. This declaration gives
the province extraordinary powers to keep people, communities, and first responders safe,
and on Saturday, we issued an order to restrict travel to a number of
communities in the Okanagan for the purposes of staying at short term accommodation. We
need hotel and motel rooms available for people and families that have been forced to
evacuate, and for our frontline responders as well. The affected areas of this
order include Cologna, Westclowna, Kamloops, Oliver Soyus, Penticton and Vernon.
So let me be clear, temporary accommodation in the areas I have listed is
no longer available for non essential visits. Thank you again to people for heating
our calls to stay away from fire impacted communities entirely. Your compassion and your
quick action has made a huge difference. We continue to ask everyone not to
travel to the Okanagan or the shu Shwap for tourism or other non essential purposes.
Parts of the Fraser Canyon are also struggling. With that being said,
conditions have improved in the southeastern portion of British Columbia and I know that communities
there are looking forward to welcoming tourists, so we are no longer asking people
to stay out of the Southeast in its entirety. But there is still a
need to recreate, responsibly, study the wildfire maps, check drive BC before
you go, understand that the risk of new wildfires and changing conditions still exist,
and pay attention to the needs of the local communities that you are visiting.
We all need to give BC Wildfire Service personnel and for emergency respond the
space that they need to keep us safe. Before I turn it over to
Minister Ralston, I'd like to thank the federal government for approving our request for
federal assistance to provide additional Canadian Forces assets and other federal resources to assist with
evacuations, staging, and other logistical tasks. The federal government has made a
military camp in Vernon available as accommodation for evacuees and a strategic facility for firefighting
operation. We expect it to be open today. The Heavy Urban Search and
Rescue Task Force is in the Okanagan and the Shuswap. They are assisting the
regional districts with damage assessment. I would also like to thank the Skoteam National
Government for proactively opening a group lodging center in Risk Creek to accommodate their members
and Indigenous peoples across the province as needed. The level of core nation and
cooperation we're experiencing across governments, first nations and emergency personnel is unprecedented and I
know right now a lot of people have also been asking how they can help.
The outpouring of support from food banks, community organizations and non governmental organizations
has been nothing short of amazing and inspiring. The Canadian Red Cross and United
Way British Columbia are among several organizations that have joined this effort. Additionally,
the BCSPCA is providing emergency boarding for pets of evacuees and has pet food and
supplies available for those in need. To view a list of other registered charities
that are helping to collect donations, please visit Canada helps dot org. Thank
you, and I will now turn it over to the Minister Elston. Thank
you, Minister maw Good afternoon everyone. I'm Bruce Ralston, Minister for us.
I'm honored to be here on the territory of the Muskram Squamishi and slavery
to the people's Let me echo the words of the Premier and Minister Mall.
My thoughts are with every person and family impacted by the wildfire situation. Our
priority is keeping people safe and responding to the emergency. I too wish to
thank all those fighting the fires and recognize their tremendous work. These last few
days have been the most difficult days fighting what wildfires in BC's history. While
we have experienced great loss, the homes and communities saved this weekend in the
face of brave threats is a testament to the skill and determination of all those
working to fight those fires. To have your community, your home under threat
of fire is extremely stressful and challenging. That said, we have had reports,
and the Premier mentioned this, We've had reports of some members of the
public taking or moving fire equipment. This is not acceptable under any circumstances.
When someone takes or moves fire equipment, they put their community and their neighbors
at risk. Our first responders are literally putting their lives on the line to
protect people's homes and livelihoods. They should not have to be concerned about whether
their equipment will be there when they need it. I know the overwhelming majority
of people are doing their very best to support fire crews. I implore the
others to stop consider the needs of the families, businesses, and communities that
they endanger by interfering with the firefighting effort. Again, I know that almost
everyone is taking the actions needed to keep our firefighters safe, and I know
many thousands of people are making deep sacrifices. Whether you are immediately impacted by
an evacuation order or alert, or we're anxiously checking on loved ones in impacted
areas. It has been a long, stressful wildfire season for too many,
and our hearts are with the people, communities and First Nations impacted. We
are doing everything we can and using every resource available to ensure people in British
Columbia are kept safe in communities across British Columbia in Shushwap, Central and South
Okanagan, the Fraser Canyon, the North, the Southeast and more. An
Oak Cliff and the BC wild Fire Service can speak to how resources are deployed
to tactically take on the fire situation. There are currently three hundred and eighty
six wildfires burning across BC. Fourteen of those are fires of note. We
continue to have approximately thirty five hundred personnel directly engaged in wildfires response efforts across
the province. They are joined by hundreds of members of municipal fire departments assisting
with structural protection and defense. There are now more than six hundred and fifty
two structural firefighters deployed in coordination with the BC Wildfire Service right now. This
is a record number for joint wildland and structural firefighting response in this province.
I'm also pleased update that on Wednesday. This week, a hundred additional Mexican
firefighters will arrive in BC, and the days following, two hundred South African
personnel will arrive to assist in local firefighting efforts. Australia is once again stepping
up to support with eighteen specialized single resources such as division supervisors, equipment branch
directors and helicopter coordinators. We are immensely grateful to all our partners who continue
to show up when we need them most. I know that the workload is
challenging, but I am confident we have exactly the right people in place to
manage this response. I'd also like to thank the federal government for making the
military camp in Vernon available will accommodation for evacuees and a strategic facility for firefighting
operations. Although the road ahead is immense still immensely challenging, we are fortunate
that the weather forecast is more positive for most areas. There's also some rain
possible for southern British Columbia in the coming days. Although it won't be the
days of solid rain that we really need, it may be enough to allow
fire crews to make more headway on the fires. Cooler temperatures, some rain
and less wind in the forecast. We remain hopeful while we continue to prepare
for difficult conditions. I'd like to finish with a brief message to everyone on
the fire line and everyone involved in this huge effort, from our wildfire crews
to the contractors and the municipal firefighters from around BC. I know you are
tired. The days have been long, the work is exhausting and demanding,
and there our season isn't even close to being over yet. On behalf of
the people of British Columbia, let me say we support you. We are
thankful for the heroic work you're doing, and we continue to be grateful for
your own wavering commitment to keeping people safe. Thank you, and now I'll
turn it over to Cliff Chapman, mister Ralston Premier and Minister ma. My
name's Cliff Chapman. I'm the Director of Provincial Operations for BC Wildfire Service.
I'm honored to join you today from the traditional territory of the Takamloops dis Equipment
where I live and work today out of the Provincial Wildfire Coordination Center in Kamloops,
BC. I would also like to extend my empathy and the organization's empathy
and understanding of the anxiety and stress that is inherent with fires that are impacting
communities. We know that it is stressful, we know that you need information.
We're doing everything we can to both get you back into your home as
well as provide information about what the fire, what our plan is to attack
the fire, as well as what has happened today. I'm going to go
through a run through like I have on the last couple of availabilities, where
I'm going to walk us through with some visual aids maps to show you what
has been transpiring on the fires. But before I do that today, I
also just want to thank members of the public, the communities that are impacted,
the communities that are supporting those that are impacted. Here at BC Wildfire
Service, we are receiving letters, emails, phone calls of appreciation, and
I know that's happening locally within our fire camps as well and even at gas
stations when our crews are filling up their trucks. You have no idea how
much this means to our organization and the people who are working in it.
It is that type of recognition that keeps them going. That keeps them going
on their fifth, sixth, and seventh deployments of the year this year,
as our fire season started so early and has continued now up until almost the
end of August, I encourage everyone to please do that. Continue to do
that, Continue to thank those that you see that are actively engaged in response,
actively engaged at your local eocs. It means the world. I also
want to address two pieces that have come up in the last couple of days
around some challenges and some questions that are out there within the media, but
I think more importantly within the public, recognizing that fire is extremely stressful and
when we see impacts like we are seeing in West Kelowna, in the Shuswap,
in the Fraser Canyon, there's a lot of stress and anxiety about what
happened and what are we doing now? And I appreciate these questions and rest
assured we are doing everything we can to try to provide BC with as much
information that we have on one what happened and secondly, what we're doing now.
I want to address the first part or the first question here, which
is around prioritizing resources for the McDougal fire and only the McDougal fire. Let
me be very clear, we are not only prioritizing the McDougall fire in West
Kelowna and Kelowna. We have multiple priority fires across the province, particularly centered
in the southern portion of the province, including but not limited to, the
Adams Lake Complex, Kuka Pei Kop, Kokeepee Creek wildfire, the Bender Complex
which is in and around Lilouette Lytton, as well as the fires that is
in the Ashnola and a couple in the southeast. For clarity, we have
one hundred and sixty four people assigned to the McDougall Creek wildfire in Cologna and
West Kelowna. There are three hundred and eighty five people assigned to the Adams
Lake Complex, There's over one hundred and thirty people assigned to Kokeepee Creek,
and there's over one hundred and eighty resources assigned to the Bender Complex in the
Fraser Canyon. We evaluate daily ground operations and make decisions on moving resources based
on where the most potential and significant impact of the fires will be to life
and property. That will continue for the rest of the fire season, and
we will see numbers go up and down based on what those potential impacts could
be. The resources that Minister Ralston reference coming into BC will be assigned largely
to the fires within the Camel's Fire Center and the Fraser Canyon, and we
will see those numbers of resources tick up from where they are today. The
second piece I want to discuss is around an operational tactic that we refer to
and wildfire as planned ignitions. Planned ignitions for clarity and in fairly simple terms,
is where we will build and or utilize an existing control line, something
that is unflammable, a power line, where we might use heavy equipment to
get down the mineral soil, a lake, a highway, or any variation
of that. That was what we would call a control line. We build
it in front of the head of the fire, the main body of the
fire, and then we conduct a planned ignition utilizing weather experts, fire experts,
and operational experts based on what weather is currently on site and what weather
is coming. The goal of a planned ignition is to work from the control
line to the main body of the fire and remove all fuel by burning it.
The main body of the fire generally has wind that draws into it,
and so when we light off of the control line, it pulls the fire
back into itself, thus eliminating fuels between the main body of the fire and
anything past that control line. I want to specifically talk about the Atoms Lake
Lower East Atoms fire. We did conduct a planned ignition on that fire last
Thursday. We did it cautiously. We did it knowing that there was a
cold front coming. As BC is aware, we discussed the cold front coming
on Wednesday and Thursday. We knew the winds were coming. As those winds
were appro going through the Caribou Fire Center, there was a continuous line of
fuel between the main body of the fire and all of the communities along the
North shu Schwap. We did our planned ignition under the conditions in which we
planned for, and it was largely successful. I want to be perfectly clear
that planned ignition saved hundreds of homes and properties along the North Shoechwap. Unfortunately,
with the wind that we knew was forecast and that was coming, that
fire went above the control line that we burned off from and then swept back
into the communities in the North Shushwap. We were still successful in protecting some
of those properties along the North sho Swap in the hundreds. Unfortunately, we've
also now seen the devastation the main body of that fire had in areas like
Scotch Creek, Solista and others, and our hearts go out to those individuals
who have seen the devastating impacts of that fire making its push. Our planned
ignition is used quite frequently in BC. It is also used across the globe.
When conditions are as dry as they are in a year like this in
BC, traditional firefighting tactics like water bombers and ground operations will not be successful.
Eliminating the fuel is in a lot of cases the best way to try
to protect any infrastructure and values ahead of the front of a fire. And
when we know that there's forty to fifty kilometers sustained winds coming, we knew
that we had to eliminate that fuel, and again I would like to stress
it was largely successful and it protected hundreds of properties in the Shoe Schwap area.
I also would like to just make one point of clarity that it was
not our planned ignition that allowed the two fires in the Adams Lake area to
merge. It was actually the cold front winds that pushed the fires together and
merging them towards Highway One, which ultimately ended ultimately led to the close of
Highway one. So I just want to thank everyone for hearing me out on
those two pieces. And now I'll go into a more thorough operational update.
So as we sit today, we do still see some extreme fire behavior being
observed throughout the province. Right now, we have not seen extreme fire behavior
observed within the McDougal complex, and we have seen actually a drop in fire
behavior on the Atoms Lake Complex as well. Where we continue to see aggressive
fire behavior is in the Fraser Canyon, and that's due to the sustained winds
of the valley and the valley orientation north to south in that valley. Continue
to see a large response presence in that valley. But and but with it,
we're still seeing some aggressive fire behavior starting in the Atoms Lake Complex.
Again, just for clarity, the dots are somewhat of the growth over the
last now it's the last seventy two hours. Anything that's more colored in red
was the perimeter of the fire pre last Thursday's cold front passage. So you
can see how much this fire has moved over the course of the last couple
of days, mostly on Thursday and Friday last week. You can see that
it has crossed Highway one and is just sitting in between Chase and Sorrento on
that side, as well as you can see where some of the fire growth
has been to the north and northeast towards the Shushwap. We are fortunate and
I'm happy to report that with the change in weather conditions we are able to
get heavy equipment out on the ground. We've had the ability to get our
ground resources back on the ground. Challenging for us on this fire today and
likely tomorrow is going to be smoke impacts. Anyone who lives in the interior
and Kamlooks knows that we have a heavy blanket of smoke right now. In
visibility and Transport Canada regulations, it's going to be touch and go how much
we can fly the next twelve hours, hoping that with a little bit of
precipitation potentially coming that we may see that smoke clear and it will allow us
to get our aviation fleet back in the air, moving down to what we're
now calling the Grouse Complex which is West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country.
Very successful operational day on these fires yesterday, as you have likely seen,
we were able to recommend making some orders back into alerts. We've also had
a lot of success with our ground operations pushing heavy equipment around these fires and
trying to get ensure that we can contain them so that no matter what the
weather brings in the coming days, that we have the ability to operate off
of our containment lines and try to keep these fires in their box and not
see any more impacts to communities and infrastructure. On this fire in particular,
as well as in the Adams Complex, it would be a miss if I
didn't thank municipal fire departments, local governments, first nation governments for really stepping
up and partnering with BC Fire Service. We cannot do this alone. We
need that partnership. We really all have to show up to try to get
people home and do it in a safe way. The Bender complex, which
I spoke about in the Fraser Canyon at where we are still seeing quite significant
fire behavior on the left is the Downton fire. That fire has seen a
bit more growth and has some challenging SPS in Goldbridge Gun Lake as well as
now starting to see the addition needing additional resources structure protection resources for the communities
up and down the Fraser Canyon, just to be safe with fires to the
north being the Bender Complex and fires to the south being Kokipie Creek. Quickly,
just touch on the Crater Creek fire down by lower Similki Mean Indian Band
and Karamius. Some good news on this fire as well. While the fire
did push into the United States, we have a strong partnership with the United
States. We're working together on that end of the fire as well as where
the fire is situated currently above Karamius and LSIB we have we had a fire
there three I believe three years ago, quite a substantial fire and so the
main body of the Crater Creek fire is not able to continue to burn towards
the Highway three. So some successful tactics going on on this fire and continue
to see a little bit of growth but nothing significant. Upper Park Real Creek
fire just outside oh sorry, going back, so this fire is roughly eleven
hundred hectors. We did see a little bit of growth in the last forty
eight hours, nothing substantial and we are having good success on the ground on
this fire with heavy equipment, ground resources, and yesterday we're able to fly
aviation assets on it, so roughly eleven hundred hectors. We're feeling fairly confident
with our operation on this fire, and again thanks to the strong partnerships that
we have in the area. Coukeepee Creek Fire in the Fraser Canyon. Obviously
this fire, it was last Friday that it made its significant push across the
river and across Highway One. We are still seeing the challenges of the valley
orientation coming out of the Nahat Latch which runs east to west into the Fraser
Canyon that runs north to south, and so you can see this fire has
made some push to the north towards Kanaka Bar. We haven't seen a lot
of growth to the south, and we have seen some growth over to the
east. We do have some operable ground, although it's very steep in this
valley. We do have some operable ground to the north and to the south.
A little bit more challenging as it gets into the steep draw canyons across
Highway One. But we are making a plan and working with the local communities
to ensure that that plan works for everyone in that valley is quickly touch on
resourcing. As discussed, we have roughly thirty five hundred people engaged in fire
response across the province today. We do have a hundred Mexican firefighters arriving on
Tuesday, two hundred South Africans at the end of the week and additional single
resources. Continue to see a large rotary wing aviation fleet with one hundred and
twenty eight helicopters, thirty five air tankers, and we are starting to see
record breaking numbers in terms of BC wildfire service, in terms of structure protection
resources with two hundred and eighty eight out in the field again thanking municipal fire
departments for their support of this effort in a very challenging fire season. And
we have flown just about eight hundred air tanker missions in twenty twenty three.
In two twenty one, which was also a very challenging fire year for the
entire season, we flew eight hundreds. So we are likely to break that
record here today as long as the smoke lifts and we're able to fly.
So that's the briefing for today. I want to thank you very much and
Premier eb I'll allow you to take questions. Thanks, allow you to take
questions. Great, Thanks Cliff, thank you for joining us today. We're
going to begin with some questions in the room and then go into questions on
the phone line. With those on the phone line, let's press Star one
to enter the queue. All members of the media will be limited to one
question and one follow up. We'll begin with Ben Jur from CTV News.
Go ahead, then, thank you. My question is in regards to the
travel ban A two part here there is some confusion about short term rentals such
as Airbnb. Do they fall under this travel ban as well? And then
also bigger picture, this is Prime Tourist season four. The Okanagan tourism operators
tell us they're doing their part, but they are already looking ahead and wondering
if there will be financial compensation for the losses that they may incur, whether
that be hotels or tour operators. Okay, thanks, thanks for the question.
So for Airbnb and people who host on Airbnb, we're really asking them
to take the same approach that we're asking commercial hotels to take, which is
to have understanding about the fact that we're asking people not to travel to the
area, not to be tourists and disaster areas in the province, and to
be flexible around refunds. Were client the company to be supportive of that,
and certainly people who are hosting to be supportive of that. That's our expectation.
The formal definition of temporary accommodation in the order does not include Airbnbs,
but I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that you
should be traveling to these areas if you have an Airbnb book. The answer
is do not travel, do not go to those areas. And for those
companies and those individuals whore involved with Airbnb, we asked them to be flexible
and understanding and support people in terms of support for the tourism sector. Absolutely
will be supporting the tourism sector. They're facing significant impacts. One of the
immediate realities though, is that the hotel rooms that are coming available is when
they become available, they're being snapped up by the province so that we can
provide accommodation for firefighters and for people who've been evacuated from their homes. And
so the business is shifting from tourists to accommodating frontline responders and families, individuals
who are an emergency response centers right now, And so very grateful to the
Hotel Association for working with us, hotel owners, working with us to be
able to ensure that there's a tight link between that accommodation becoming available and moving
someone in right away so we can get them out of a gymnasium or a
community center or whatever and into at least a hotel room. Okay, thanks,
thank you, up I do. In recent years, many Birds Columbians
have come to rely on social media networks to get news articles, to share
news articles. Obviously, Facebook Instagram are no longer allowing Canadian news content to
be shared on their platforms. Is the VC government finding it difficult to get
its message out to people? Do you have concerns with the ban on Canadian
news content on these platforms during this time of immense disaster. Well, this
is the time in British Columbia where people are pulling together, whether they own
a company or whether they are opening it or home up to friends, relatives,
or sometimes even strangers, to support neighbors with livestock, to support people
who have pets, and everybody pulling together. I heard a story this morning
from an MLA about a guy who owns a fuel company who saw that a
pump needed fuel and he didn't have the authorization yet to put the fuel to
keep that pump going. To cover the cost that fuel, he went ahead
and fueled it up so that we could work it out later. That is
the approach of companies that we're seeing in British Columbia. I find it astonishing
that we are at this stage of the crisis and the owners of Facebook and
Instagram have not come forward and said, look, we're trying to make a
point with the federal government, but it's more important that people are safe.
It's more important that they have access to basic information through our networks, and
then we can deal with our concerns with the federal government and their new laws
later. I call on Facebook again, mister Zuckerberg, open up access to
Canadian media so that British Columbians can share critical local information so they can be
safe. It's it's it's incredibly frustrating to me that we have to be making
us call at this stage in the crisis. But I hope that that common
sense prevails there. But currently it seems to be in short supply. My
next question we're going to do with the phone lines with Richards Ismant from Global
News. Go ahead, Richard, I'm not sure that this is for it.
Maybe for Cliff. Residents are trying to get supplies in the community trapped
near angle Mock by boats. They've apparently been blocked with duty. So well
you can say to people to reassure them the supplies and services are getting to
the communities that need them. And Cliff to the issue you were speaking too
earlier about that controlled bird. How confident are you that no additional homes were
lost due to the decision made around thember. Okay, thanks Richard, I'll
turn that over to Cliff. Actually take the second question first, and then
members of the public services something NASA specific question about Anglemont. Very much,
Richard, it is a really good question, and I guess I would say
I am I am very confident that that planned ignition went ahead under the right
planning context to remove fuel between the main body of the fire and the communities
in the North Shushwap. I am confident it was not our planned ignition that
made that fire move into the North Shushwap. The winds were forty kilometers an
hour sustained. We saw that fire maker twenty two kilometer run around our planned
ignition. I am confident that that planned ignition rem move fuel and saved homes.
Ian Cunnings from EMCR will be taking the next question right in great Thank
you, Premier. My name is Ian Cunnings. I'm the senior director for
Response Operations for Emergency Management Climate Readiness. In terms of resupply, EMCR Regional
Operations Center out of came Loops is working closely with local government DOCS and if
there were a need for assistance with that local government dec we would then provide
that support. So we would just encourage concerned residents to get in touch with
their local government for that support. Thank you, Premier. Thanks yea,
Premier, Thanks Yems. Your David Bolt question. I know we're in the
very early stages here of what comes next for the people of Cologna and West
Cologna in the entire region. But are there guarantee from you that this will
not take the same amount of time as the people of Liveen of experience that
they are still waiting to get back into their homes. You know, what
sort of commitment will there be to be rebuilding here in this community. Well,
we'll be working incredibly closely with local authorities. We're already working closely with
the federal government to ensure that those families, starting with the news we got
today of the fifty structures that we lost in West Cologna, most of which
are likely homes, making sure that people are supported. The bad news is
going to continue to come in family homes destroyed across the province due to fire.
As you've heard from Cliff, as you heard from Minister ma this is
still a very serious and volatile situation. We are not out of the woods
yet, and the government at all levels, local government, provincial government,
and federal government will be working together to ensure that people are looked after and
supported. Our mast questions can come from Rob Shaw from check News. Go
ahead, Rob Hi there. I know this is a bit of a delicate
question, but are we sure that everyone is okay? Is anyone missing?
Are we worried that anyone has been killed in any of these buyers or can't
be accounted for or how do we know that? This is Rob implicit in
your questions, This is an incredibly dangerous situation. When Minister Moss says you
get an order to evacuate. Please evacuate. Certainly, do not go into
an area that's under an evacuation order. That is the highest level of risk
for your own life, for the lives of first responders that are going to
try to fight that fire, because all of a sudden they're going in to
try to get somebody out that shouldn't be in the area in the first place.
That is where the danger to life and safety is the absolute highest.
With that, I'm going to turn it over to Cliff to provide any information
you can from the front lines about about any reports of missing people or anything
like that. Cliff, thank you Premier, and you're right, it is
implicit as it was a very scary situation that occurred last Thursday and last Friday,
with that type of wind sustained through the night into the darkness, evacuation
orders going in. Obviously, at this point in time, we have not
been made aware of any impacts to humans, but that doesn't mean that we
may not in the coming days. Obviously, we continue to focus on trying
to protect the structures that are standing, focused in our on the response to
those fires and Ian I'm not sure if if there's anything to add from EMCR,
but there is nothing that's come across PC Wildfire Services organization in terms of
your question, that's correct. We we have seeing them for nothing to add
no no reports of missing persons into EMCR. Thanks Premier sim then Rob Dao
then Rob da fol question. Sure, thanks. I guess the fact on
this You've talked about thanking the communities that have sent municipal fire crews and I'm
just wondering if you could expand a bit on you mentioned structural protection, like
what can you do with these crews that you couldn't do without them in terms
of firefighting? What does it mean to have them there and how useful is
it in terms of actually protecting homes? Thanks Cliff. I think this is
one for you. It really there is a there is a distinct difference between
municipal fire departments and what BC Wildfire Services, both training, experience and really
mandates are to accomplish within BC. And that's why it is so imperative for
us to work in true partnership and unified command as we are on the McDougall
fire and working closely as we are in the Atoms fire and fires across the
province. When we call in municipal fire departments. They support us in our
structure protection, which is the deployment of sprinklers, pumps, mass water delivery
systems, quite a complex system to try to reduce the relative humidity in and
around the community as well as directly spray water into the fuels so that the
fire has less fuel to burn in an ideal situation. The municipal fire departments
can also fight the structure fires. So when we see the impacts like we
did in West Kelowna, when we see the impacts like we did in the
Shuswap, municipal departments are trained in structure defense and they are able to actually
suppress the homes that might be on fire. I think this is one important
piece because wildfire. The BC Wildfire Service firefighters, while they can support the
deployment of sprinklers, they are generally focused on trying to steer the fire away
from the community and using our suppression tactics to keep the fire out of communities.
And that's why sometimes when you see within West Kelowna or perhaps around the
Shoeshwap, you may not see the BC Wildfire Service reds and blues. You
might see municipal departments because that is their area of expertise. Our staff are
in the forest trying to steer that fire, put in containment lines, use
heavy equipment, so it really does have to be a partnership, and there
is a difference between what the two types of crews can do. Obviously most
effective when we work together, and that's what we're doing right now, doing
right now. Our next question we'll come from Joe Ruddle from the Vancouver Sun.
Go ahead, Joe, yes, Hi. With these wildfire seasons getting
worse here and everywhere, are there fire prevention strategies and or technologies being used
elsewhere in places like Australia, the DC is studying and considering adopting here.
Thanks for the question. Thanks, so, in terms of fire prevention strategies
around wildfire, the interface areas between forests where wildfire areas are and homes is
a critical prevention mechanism. We put additional resources into expanding the areas where trees
are removed in interface areas with communities. It's also had the added benefit of
providing wood to mills in British Columbia, given the impact that forest fires and
pine beetle have had on our forest industry, it's one of the initiatives we
put in place to both support the forest industry but also to prevent forest fires
from spreading into urban areas. There are also building code provisions that can be
taken to reduce the risk of wildfire spreading in urban areas, including sprinklers and
the materials that are used in the construction of buildings. There was a lot
of discussion about that and the discussion about what would be allowed and not in
the reconstruction of the city of Letton, for example, and the Public service
that's responsible for the BC Building Code and the National Building Quote I'm sure will
be taking note of these impacts, as they did following the fire in Letton,
to determine whether or not our building code needs to be amended in certain
areas of the province. Charity question, Yes, this one might be for
Cliff. Is there still a concern that the remnants of Hurricane Hillary could create
strong winds and exacerbate some of these fires. I would say the the remnants
of that hurricane it's a bit of a double edged sword for BC. So
on one hand, there is actually a chance of precipitation coming into the southern
portion of the province effect of really starting late this afternoon, and even better
chance tomorrow is that the remnants of the hurricane really kind of finishes off it's
run into BC. So that's positive news, and we're talking about not enough
to end the season, unfortunately, but probably five to ten millimeters of rain
within the southeast portion of the province and somewhere between one and five mills across
the Camps Fire Center, which is obviously where we have our Adams Complex,
Bender Complex and McDougall Creek fire. So there is good news in terms of
precipitation. The other edge of that sort is exactly what you reference, which
is the winds that may be associated with it. So we are anticipating some
winds to come with this thermal air mass that's coming through, but it will
not be the same as what we experienced on Thursday and Friday. Couple of
different variables to that we're not in the middle at the end of a heat
wave, which is a positive thing. And the winds are not forecasted to
be sustained for as long as they were last week, so we may see
gusts up to thirty kilometers an hour, but they're really forecast to be generally
much more mild than what we saw last week, ten to twenty kilometers an
hour, which is for August firefighting conditions in BC. That's relatively typical,
so good news on the rain. Will continue to monitor the wind as it
as that the remnants of that hurricane starts to push into BC. Thank you,
thank you, And our next question is going to come from Camille Pains
from the Canadian Press. Go ahead, Camille here. I don't know if
a minister is there right now for a question I have on patients from the
North Blood territory, but it is I think I think Minister Mack can take
that and her staff from emper may be able to assist. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Could you tell me how many patients from the North
Wet territories are currently can seeing whether more are affected. Yes, so,
so first off, I want to emphasize that our hearts are certainly with the
people of the Northwest territories. We are kindred spirits in this challenge together seeing
what's happening here in British Columbia as well as up in the Northwest. So
we have safely received over nineteen hospital patients and sixteen care home residents from Northwest
territories. They've been transferred to Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and Providence and
we are continuing to support as we can, but also of course very mindful
of the emergency that we are facing here in British Columbia as one, are
any patients from outwhere in DC or I've expected to be moved to other regions.
Yes, there is actually a significant evacuation of long term care home patients
seniors from the Kelowna shoe shop areas. Let us follow up with you.
We'll connect with our colleagues over a Ministry of Health to follow up with you
on details on that. Next questions we come from Lisa used to for sitting
nears, go ahead us. Oh, either're just wondering, and I know,
as you said earlier at the beginning, it's very early days. But
for the rebuilding aspect of it, or I guess just putting people's lives back
together after it. For people who don't have insurance coverage, whether they're a
tenant or an owner just in a mortgage, are there supports for them or
are there going to be people who are just going to be out of luck?
So the loss of a home is absolutely devast dating and I want to
emphasize how challenging this is for the people who are at risk of losing their
homes yet and who have already received confirmation that their homes have been lost.
I know that there are a lot of people and families hurting out there right
now. In the past, federal disaster financial assistance programs have not covered losses
that are insurable, so that's like fire. But right now, local authorities
are assessing what is happening on the ground. We are working closely with them
to get a real full sense of the extent of the damage. Unfortunately,
we are not yet through the wildfire season. There are still several weeks to
come. I will say that for those who have lost homes and structures,
wild home insurance is widely available in every community across the province, and I
really encourage homeowners to connect with their insurance providers or to reach out to the
Insurance Bureau of Canada. I have a phone number here that I can offer.
It's one eight four four two two seven five four two two. But
as we begin to move into recovery, as a premier said, we will
continue to work very closely with local government's First Nations, regional districts to understand
the extent of the damage and how we can best support people through this.
It is a unifollowup question. And just when you're talking about people coming to
visit or holiday, is a soy use like is that southed us? And
that's okay, Well, you still want people to stay over like Cathol Guard
southern area, so in the southeast. Actually, you know, I'm going
to get Cliff to maybe comment on where the line he might recommend is here,
but I will say a soius is part of our emergency order restricting travel
for the purposes of accommodation. I know that places like a solius, like
Vernon, like Pentictant, they are not under active threat of major fire,
but they are significant host communities for evacuees from those regions that are experiencing threats
from fire. So the emergency order absolutely restricts people from traveling into places like
a soy use like Vernon, like Penticton, Tom, I'll say that again
for clarity. Our emergency order restricts all travelers who are traveling for non essential
purpose from going into a soy use conticton Vernon, Cologna, West Cologna,
Oliver, make sure I have that list for the purposes of staying in overnight
accommodation. Cliff, did you want to comment down Castlegar area and further east
from that? So obviously it's august INBC. August In BC is typically when
we have are one of our worst two fire months, and this year is
no exception to that. Obviously, however, the conditions in the southeast have
been relatively stable. We do have fires in the southeast, and I encourage
everybody who may be visiting and or traveling through the southeast portion of the province
using Revelstoke sort of as that western boundary and pushing all the way to the
Alberta border, just encourage everybody to download our app. Make sure you're paying
attention to the weather, know if there's lightning forecasts, know if there's wind
forecast, and know where the fires are, so so that if you are
recreating or you're traveling through that area one that we can rely on you to
call in potentially new fires given that there might be smoke impacts in that area
for the next number of days, but also for your own safety and the
safety of your family. So really asking everyone in BC to be prepared as
an individual, whether that's at home or for travel. Because it is still
August. We are still going to see temperatures getting into the thirty degree range
and maybe slightly higher than that, and there is still potential really across the
province to have significant fire behavior. It is not the same as what we
experienced last Thursday and Friday, and I just want to stress that. And
so yes, you can go to the southeast. And again I will say,
kind of using Revelstoke as the western boundary to the Alberta border, we
do not have the same impacts on the landscape from fire that we do within
the Camlos Fire Center and the restricted areas. And just for a clarity,
i'll give that look. Just for a clarity, I'll give that list again
of the cities that are specifically named in the order. So again we've got
two pieces of communication here. One is a travel communication. Don't go into
the Okanagan, don't go into the Shoe Shwa for tourism or for fun.
And then by law, travelers will not be able to travel to stay in
temporary accommodations in Kelowna, West Kolowna, Camloops, all over a Soyu's,
Penticton and vermon So. Hopefully that provides greater clar The show has been produced
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