Recent research, covered by a previous HNGN article, stating that wildfire threats are becoming more frequent due to climate change seems to be extremely accurate. In West Kelowna, British Columbia, Premier Christy Clark says that climate change might have affected the terrain in the area, making it more susceptible to fires.
On Tuesday alone, 43 fires broke out after a series of lightning storms. Outside West Kelowna on Wednesday, the Westside Road fire forced emergency officials to initiate the evacuations of 70 homes, according to Westerly News.
The premier believes that due to changes in the climate, the land has been dried out, altering the terrain and making it more susceptible to fires. She believes that British Columbia is currently experiencing its very effects, and will continue to do so.
UBC forestry professor and fire ecology expert Lori Daniels states that the number of fires, as well as their ferocity, has been quite unique, reports CBC News. "The drought started early with our low snow packs in February. We made it to the 'very high to extreme' fire danger at the beginning of July, which is two to three weeks ahead of schedule," she said.
Clark believes that British Columbians must get together in order to combat climate change. She also says that people must also have ample resources to combat them.
"In Kelowna, we are becoming more and more familiar with this, and so it's kind of like every summer they kind of get the band back together," she said. "Everybody comes to the co-ordination centre. They all know how they interrelate because, sadly, we are doing this every year now, but boy, we do it better than anybody else in the world."
