Canada was hit by a heat wave. Lytton was particularly hard hit. After days of record temperatures, a fire breaks out – and devours almost the entire place. Canadian MP Brad Vis announced on Thursday that 90 percent of Lytton had burned down, including the whole town center. More than 1000 people had to flee in a hurry.
He saw white smoke on the southern edge of the village and 15 to 20 minutes later the flames had hit the whole city, said Mayor Jan Polderman, according to Canadian media. Photos and videos showed completely charred rows of houses and streets.
No fire fatalities so far
There were initially no official figures on possible victims. Power and telephone connections were interrupted in many places. People had fled in all directions to more distant places, it said.
Before the fire disaster on Wednesday evening (local time), Lytton, which is around 260 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, had heat records for three days in a row. According to the weather agency, the thermometer showed 49.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, the highest temperature recorded in Canada.
The fire on an area of 65 square kilometers was “out of control”, the authorities announced on Thursday. The weather is still dry, hot and windy.
Dozens of wildfires after heat
In other parts of the Canadian province of British Columbia, dozens of forest fires had broken out within 24 hours, many as a result of lightning strikes.
Hot and dry weather with strong winds aggravated the fire situation in California as well. In the north of the most populous US state, over a thousand firefighters fought three major forest fires on Thursday.
Flames not yet contained
One of the fires near the village of Weed has spread to over 80 square kilometers. Several thousand people had been asked to leave their homes in the danger zone. Despite a large-scale operation by the fire brigade for several days, the flames were only 25 percent contained on Thursday. (SDA / euc)