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Record Heat in Canada: Fire Wipes Out the Village

All approximately 350 residents of the village of Lytton and the surrounding area in the Canadian province of British Columbia lost their homes on Wednesday evening (local time) when a rapidly advancing wildfire destroyed everything. There are no reports of casualties yet.

 

Mayor Jan Polderman signed the official evacuation order. “It’s terrible. Everything was on fire. It took about 15 minutes from the first smoke until suddenly there was fire everywhere,” he told CBC News.

A reception centre has been set up for the refugee residents. Video footage shot by residents rushing out of the village shows numerous buildings on fire.

A CBC meteorologist said winds of up to 70 kilometres per hour propelled the fire toward the village. She explained that the hot, dry and windy conditions in the area could mean the fire is moving at speeds of 10 to 20 kilometres per hour.

It has been extremely hot in the US and Canadian states along the west coast in recent days. Lytton, which is 260 kilometres north of Vancouver, was the crown on Tuesday with 49.6 degrees. That is the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada. More than 100 people have died from the heat in the Vancouver area. This mainly concerns the elderly.

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