Canada heatwave: wildfire consumes Lytton, small town that hit record 49.6 degrees Celsius
- Fires rage amid an unprecedented heatwave in Canada, charring most of one town
- The province of British Columbia has recorded 62 new fires in the past 24 hours
03:23
Canada’s ‘hottest village’ consumed by forest fire after suffering days of extreme heat
A wildfire that forced people to flee a small town in British Columbia that had set record high temperatures for Canada on three consecutive days burned out of control on Thursday as relatives desperately sought information on evacuees.
The roughly 1,000 residents of Lytton had to abandon their homes with just a few minutes’ notice on Wednesday evening, after searing the previous day under a record high of 49.6 degrees Celsius (121.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
The province’s public safety minister, Mike Farnworth, said on Thursday afternoon that most homes and buildings in Lytton had been destroyed and some residents were unaccounted for.
The British Columbia Wildfire Service said the Lytton blaze was raging out of control over an area spanning roughly 80 sq km. Several other fires were burning in the region as a heatwave baked western Canada.
Lytton city council member Lilliane Graie, on behalf of Mayor Jan Polderman, said in an email on Thursday that the fire had devastated the town, a village about 153km (95 miles) northeast of Vancouver.
“Our people are scattered north and south and we are trying to establish who is where,” she wrote.