Ottawa mobilizing military resources to help fight wildfires in B.C.

Federal assistance including military resources are being mobilized to help British Columbia’s fight against hundreds of wildfires, Canada’a Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair announced Friday.

Blair said in a tweet he has approved a request for federal assistance to aid firefighters and emergency management personnel who are “working tirelessly” in B.C.

The assistance will come from across federal departments and the Canadian Armed Forces, Blair said.

Bowinn Ma, B.C.’s minister of emergency management and climate readiness, said in a statement she is grateful to the federal government for its support.

“We look forward to welcoming federal resources in B.C. to assist with wildfire response efforts as soon as possible,” she said. “They will work alongside the approximate 2,000 B.C. Wildfire Service personnel across our province, in addition to further international resources arriving this weekend.

“We will continue to use every tool necessary to keep people and communities safe.”

Ma said Thursday she had made the request, while Blair said earlier that he expected B.C. to seek “fairly substantive” assistance.

Blair said at the time that federal help could include military assistance for airlift evacuations from remote locations, as well as troops trained as firefighters who can “mop up” to keep blazes from reigniting.

The B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) said in a statement Friday that it has a “long history of working in partnership with the federal government during particularly challenging wildfire seasons.”

“We continue to work closely with the federal government and are grateful for the announcement that assistance has been mobilized,” the statement said.

CBC has reached out to the Department of National Defence for more information on when resources could arrive.

B.C. has also asked for 1,000 foreign firefighters to help relieve local crews, Ma said Thursday.

The BCWS is reporting the total number of active fires in the province is now 380, while the number of threatening or potentially damaging blazes has jumped to 20.

B.C. would welcome all additional firefighters and equipment as hot weather and afternoon lightning storms keep fire conditions extreme and strain resources, said B.C. Wildfire Service spokesman Cliff Chapman on Thursday.

“It is very, very challenging across Canada and across the globe right now to secure additional firefighting capacity,” he said.

“This is a very dangerous job. With the conditions we are in it makes it all that much more dangerous for our staff who are working 14-, 16-, 20-hour days trying to do everything to move these fires away from critical impacts.”

BCWS crews are fighting the historic wildfire season while also mourning the loss of a colleague Thursday.

Devyn Gale, 19, died in hospital after a tree fell on her while she was responding to a wildfire near Revelstoke, in the province’s southeastern interior.

Evacuation orders issued

Blair’s announcement of federal assistance came as the Central Coast Regional District issued an evacuation order covering 20 kilometres along the Dean River Valley, about 50 kilometres north of Bella Coola.

The district initially issued an alert Wednesday, but upgraded that to an order Friday.

The order affects the area along the Dean River Valley east from Kimsquit Bay, extending to approximately 36 kilometres along the Dean River Valley, including two commercial lodges.

The Cariboo Regional District also issued another evacuation order Friday night for a large region including several remote First Nations communities about 100 kilometres west of Quesnel in the province’s northern interior.

Everyone living in and around the communities, including Tsachla Lake 8, Tatelkus Lake 28 and Yaladelassla 4 must leave their homes immediately and make their way to the evacuee support centre at 2181 Ospika Boulevard in Prince George.

The BCWS says the Dean River fire was caused by lightning and is about three square kilometres in size.

It joins at least 12 other evacuation orders or alerts that have been issued in the province since Tuesday.

On Friday evening, the Regional District of Bulkley Nechako expanded an evacuation order first put in place on July 8 for the Finger Lake wildfire, burning 60 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof in the Prince George Fire Centre.

The fire is now estimated to be 270 hectares in size and burning out of control.