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| 2003/08/03 |
Fires in Canada burn 38,000 hectares
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09:57:27 �.�
Vancouver, Aug 3 - Nearly 8,000 people have been evacuated in western Canada as wildfires advanced Saturday at more than 5 kilometres per hour and burned at temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.
A total of 353 fires were burning in British Columbia, consuming 38,000 hectares, the provincial government said.
The province's prime minister, Gordon Campbell, on Saturday extended a limited state of emergency he declared the day before to cover the entire province and said military personnel will be called in to assist 1,800 civilian firefights deployed across the province.
He dubbed this year's fire season the worst in 50 years.
At least 85 houses, four businesses and two saw mills have been destroyed in the fire, but no one has been reported injured or killed.
The fires were being fed by tinder-dry grass and forests as well as hot, windy weather.
Forecasters said 33-degree temperatures and 50-kilometre-per-hour winds would be little changed over the next several days.
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