The effects of the wildfire season are noticeable this summer.
This is one of the worst fire seasons in the province’s history. Only 2017 and 1958 saw more hectares burned. And the fire season will continue for several more weeks.
Last week, the entire community of Kimberley, in southeastern B.C., was put on an evacuation alert as a wildfire burned nearby.
The alert means residents may have to leave their homes quickly if the fire risk increases. Residents of health facilities in that community were relocated because of the evacuation alert.
In the Okanagan and Similkameen, fires continued to burn and new fires started near Summerland.
And throughout the region, heavy smoke obscured the sun and resulted in poor air quality. The province has issued a smoky skies bulletin for much of the province.
Air quality in the Okanagan Valley and in many other parts of the province is serious enough to affect health, especially for those who have breathing difficulties or pre-existing health conditions.
Because of the smoke, the Apple Triathlon in Kelowna was cancelled, as were races in the inaugural Super League triathlon in Penticton.
Still, despite the smoke and fire conditions, Don McCormick, the mayor of Kimberley, has urged Alberta visitors not to cancel their B.C. vacation plans.
“For our business community, I have tried to emphasize with our Alberta neighbours that it okay to come here as planned,” he stated last week. “The smoke is no worse here than it is in Calgary or Edmonton.”
Tourism is a huge part of the B.C. economy and if visitors do not come, it will have a serious effect on businesses and communities.
But McCormick’s message also minimizes the seriousness of the wildfires and the evacuation alert. Evacuation alerts and air quality advisories are both signs that conditions are serious and that there are risks to people in the area.
We are in the midst of a devastating fire season. Its seriousness must not be downplayed.