Hundreds of raging wildfires in BC have forced 10,000 people to flee

Around 10,000 people in British Columbia have been forced from their homes as fire crews battle more than 200 wildfires that spread across the province’s interior in recent days.

Hundreds of new fires blaze every year in B.C. during wildfire season — which has been amplified due to dry conditions and warmer temperatures during the winter — but things took a turn for the worst over the weekend due to changing winds that prompted mass evacuation orders of cities and First Nation communities.

The B.C. government has declared a state of emergency and announced $100 million in relief funding on Sunday for those displaced from their homes, and Canadian Forces aircraft departed to assist.

One of Canada’s largest emergency evacuation happened last year in Fort McMurray, Alberta, as more than 88,000 people had to flee surrounded by massive walls of fire and smoke. Thousands of homes were destroyed and the rebuilding efforts continue. Fire crews from around the world were deployed to help stifle the blaze, and the Red Cross raised an unprecedented $323 million in aid.

Residents of Fort McMurray started taking donations over the weekend for those affected by the B.C. fire and driving supplies evacuees in B.C.

“Any stress that we might be feeling is overcome by the excitement that we have that we’re able to return the favour,” Garrett Shaw, who lost his home in Fort McMurray, told CTV News.

The last time B.C. declared a state of emergency over wildfires was in 2003, and forest ecology experts are saying that the current scale of the fires is atypical for this time of year.