Wildfires force 46,000 people from their homes across Canada
Wes Gerwien, 28, looks out a window of his family home that was covered in fire retardant in Cache Creek, British Columbia, Canada, July 18, 2017. Residents of the town were forced to evacuate 11 days ago and can now return to their homes.
As forest fires raged Wednesday in western Canada, the provincial government extended a state of emergency and announced aid for tens of thousands of people evacuated because of the disaster.
Around 150 fires were burning in British Columbia on the Pacific coast, and more than half of them remained out of control, firefighting officials said.
The fires have forced at least 46,000 people from their homes.
Each household evacuated will receive aid of about $480 (600 Canadian dollars), British Columbia Premier John Horgan said.
That amount will double for families unable to return home over the next two weeks, Horgan said.
He also said a state of emergency that was first declared July 7 and set to expire Friday will be extended by two weeks.
That declaration gave emergency responders, forestry officials and police the authority "to take every action necessary to fight these wildfires and protect residents and their communities," according to a government statement issued July 7.
"We have had many challenges happen and we have more ahead of us," Horgan said. "A coordinated, strong response is important."
Nearly 3,000 firefighters aided by 200 water-dumping helicopters and planes are fighting the fires, and reinforcements are on the way.
Rain is forecast in some areas of British Columbia, but the flames are being fueled by bone-dry conditions and fanned by strong winds.
On the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, the fires forced the partial closure of some of Canada's most prized national parks, including Banff in the province of Alberta, which is visited annually by some four million tourists.
In Alberta, authorities on Wednesday barred people from lighting campfires.
The province was hit hard last year by forest fires that forced the evacuation of 100,000 people from the oil-producing city of Fort McMurray.
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