Photo gallery: British Columbia wildfires turn day into night

Desdemona Despair

By Clare Hennig
15 August 2018

(CBC News) – Nearly 600 fires are burning across British Columbia, covering the sky in flame-coloured haze and blanketing the air with smoke.

A provincial state of emergency has been declared.

Dozens of evacuation orders and alerts are in effect in the north and central regions, affecting more than 20,000 people.

In Burns Lake, in the central Interior, hotels are at zero vacancy, so anyone without a place to stay is being told to drive to Prince George, over 200 kilometres away.

Fraser Lake Mayor Dwayne Lindstrom said Tuesday the smoky conditions and dark skies were unlike any he’d experienced in decades living in the village, some 130 kilometres west of Prince George.

“It’s probably one of the weirdest days I’ve ever had in my life,” Lindstrom told Radio West guest host Audrey McKinnon. […]

In areas across the province, the skies darkened in the early afternoon on Tuesday — so much so that street lights turned on and residents drove around with headlights on as smoke and ash choked out the light. [more]

Here’s what British Columbians are facing under a blanket of smoke and blazing wildfires