Vancouver Island fire crews help battle flames in Kelowna
As flames ravage the Kelowna area, forcing thousands to flee and destroying dozens of homes and counting, fire crews from Vancouver Island are rushing to help.
Four municipal firefighters from Saanich, as well as crews from Lake Cowichan and Comox, have headed to the Interior. The team from Saanich arrived at the fires on Friday afternoon.
Saanich’s Assistant Deputy Chief Craig Ford said with fire conditions so extremely dangerous here on Vancouver Island, it’s a juggling act with resources, but his team felt compelled to help.
“Mother nature has a way of actually making sure that we all have to support each other," Ford said from Saanich's fire hall number one on Friday.
"That could be earthquakes, it could be floods, it could be wildfire in this situation."
The devastation wrought by the terrifying flames in the Okanagan has been unlike anything ever seen on Vancouver Island. Still, after unprecedented droughts his summer, Ford says it's not off the table here.
“In my career of 20 years, this is probably the worst case we've had in terms of wildfire threat on Vancouver Island,” Ford said. “We have large tracts of land that are not immune to what's happening in the Okanagan region and elsewhere in the province.”
Flames erupted on Quadra Island Thursday and continue to burn in Strathcona Park, and on Friday morning Saanich fire crews responded to a suspicious grassfire in Swan Lake near Saanich’s fire hall.
Despite it burning on bogland, the fire spread rapidly, and without a quick response could have spread to homes, said Ford.
“Take this situation and put it into one of our parks – where we've got some waterless areas and a longer response time – and we'd have a major issue on our hands.”
The smoke from the Kelowna-area fires is expected to blanket Vancouver Island on Saturday. Yimei Li, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, says the air quality index is expected to rise from low to a moderate risk on Saturday.
"With the incoming smoke for the Interior fires, air quality is expected to worsen,” said Li.
Winds should clear that smoke starting Monday. However, there's little rain in the forecast for weeks, meaning an already unprecedented fire season that may hammer all parts of the province is expected to stretch into the fall.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
CrowdStrike says widespread disruptions were not the result of security incident or cyberattack
Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said Friday that an issue that has caused major disruptions to companies worldwide is not a security incident or cyberattack.
Trump describes assassination attempt in personal detail as he accepts Republican nomination
Donald Trump, sombre and bandaged, accepted the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in a speech that described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier before laying out a sweeping populist agenda, particularly on immigration.
Canadian families will receive more in their next Canada Child Benefit payment. Here's why
Canadian families receiving Canada Child Benefit program payments can expect more cash in their cheques this Friday.
Thinking about getting a tattoo? New research might change your mind
Sealed bottles of tattoo and permanent makeup ink, including some marked as sterile, contained millions of potentially dangerous bacteria, according to new research by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
'We had a good run': High-profile Liberal minister quitting cabinet, not running in next election
Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan has announced he will not run in the next federal election, and will be quitting his cabinet position Friday.
opinion Feel-good movies to watch when you're down
Film critic Richard Crouse offers a list of movies to watch when you need a mood boost.
Shannen Doherty granted divorce days after death
Shannen Doherty finalized her split with husband, Kurt Iswarienko, just hours before her death at age 53, and she was granted a rare posthumous divorce two days later.
B.C. woman who thought Coldplay concert 'was a date' must pay ex for ticket, tribunal rules
A B.C. woman has been ordered to repay her ex for a ticket to Coldplay's 2023 concert in Vancouver – in a small claims decision that highlights the distinction between gifts and loans under Canadian law.
Here's what happened on the final night of the RNC
The final day of the Republican National Convention was underway in Milwaukee where Donald Trump made a lengthy speech.