Canadian wildfires spark evacuations, air quality warnings in British Columbia

By Nia Williams and Ismail Shakil

2022.09.13

Sept 12 (Reuters) – Growing wildfires in Canada’s westernmost province British Columbia prompted air quality warnings and evacuation orders on Monday, including the evacuation of a camp housing workers for the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.

There are 193 active wildfires currently burning in B.C., including the Flood Falls fire in the south of the province and Battleship Mountain blaze in the northeast, which together have forced around 1,000 people to leave their homes.

In Vancouver, B.C.’s largest city, Environment Canada extended an air quality warning because of high concentrations of fine particulate matter caused by wildfire smoke, some of which was being blown north from the United States.