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Robert Dawe was among the 750 residents and workers who fled the town on June 19, after a sudden change in the wind drove the flames quickly toward the community. He said his phone lit up with messages on Wednesday night from family and co-workers who had just found out they could finally go home.

"I said, 'What's going on?' and everybody's sharing the information," he said in an interview. "I said, 'Well, that's perfect.'"

It's been "a rough few weeks, a crazy few weeks," away from home, he added.

Churchill Falls is home to about 700 people, and it's a "company town" for workers at the nearby hydroelectric generating station, which serves Labrador and Quebec. When the evacuation order was issued two weeks ago, residents were given just 45 minutes to flee.

It was an ordeal, Dawe said. He and hundreds of other drove through a lightning storm about three hours east on a remote two-lane highway to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, as per the evacuation orders.

But the real fear began last week, on June 25, when the fire jumped over the Churchill River, which was the last natural barrier between the community and the flames. Dawe said he watched in horror as the flames roared into view on the airport's web camera, and then spread across the tarmac.

"I was sick to my stomach," he said. "I figured everything would have been gone, everything. But everything was spared. Not one building got damaged."

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro had left a small team in place to operate the generating station after the evacuation order on June 19. But when the fire jumped the river and began barrelling toward the town, the Crown-owned utility was forced to remove its remaining crews.

The company has been operating the power plant remotely, from Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

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It said Wednesday that the fire was classified as "being held," which means it was no longer spreading.

"Out an abundance of caution we are asking that upon returning, everyone please remain prepared as the situation could still change while the fire remains categorized as ‘being held,'" the company said in an update on its website. "While this is not expected, it’s important that we remain vigilant."

Dawe is a fleet manager with the utility and he, too, has been working remotely from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. He said he'd take the next few days to wrap up that work and then head back to Churchill Falls on Sunday, to be in his office on Monday morning.

"I'm excited now," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 3, 2024.

Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser said Fort Nelson, which was evacuated because of a wildfire in May, received rain for much of this week and has recently been downgraded to a Level 3 drought risk.

The region has previously been at Level 5, the highest risk, where adverse effects from drought were considered "almost certain."

"We're still nervous. If you look at the fire maps, you can see that the whole northeast corner up here is just one big red blob. So there's lots of fire on the landscape," Fraser said. "Still makes us nervous.

"But the fact that the drought level is coming down, we're getting some rain, is making everybody feel a little bit more comfortable."

Thursday numbers from the BC Wildfire Service show that 79 of the 91 active wildfires in British Columbia are burning in the province's northern region, known as the Prince George fire centre.

Fraser said Thursday that plumes of smoke are still visible on hot days, coming mostly from fires burning "in the black," meaning they are within the charred boundaries of previous fires and not spreading.

"It's been so dry for so long that if you even get a couple of days of really hot, dry weather, the behaviour kicks up again," he said.

"And, of course, it makes us nervous when we see those big plumes of smoke close to the community."

BC Wildfire spokesman Forrest Tower told reporters Thursday that the southern part of the fire centre, which includes Prince George, has received "pretty significant precipitation," while the same cannot be said for the northern portion including Fort Nelson.

"Looking into the next several weeks, probably going into the month, it looks like it's going to continue to be hot and dry. So a large amount of our resources right now are up in the Fort Nelson/Fort St. John area," he said.

"We likely will still see some pretty challenging fire behaviour and conditions, especially in the northeast of B.C. But just this bit of window where we aren't seeing fire everywhere else, that really allows us to put a large amount of our resources on those pretty significant fires in the northeast of B.C."

Minister of Emergency Management Bowinn Ma told the news conference that it's fortunate that resources are able to be directed to the north.

"But let me be clear, even though we have seen a significant amount of precipitation over the last several months, snow pack levels are still very low," she said.

"And when those rains cease, we are still at risk of severe drought in many parts of the province."

The government is asking residents and visitors to be prepared for potential wildfires this long weekend and check for road closures, alerts, evacuation orders and other prohibitions before travelling.

Fraser said Fort Nelson is going ahead with its Canada Day festivities, and tourists have been returning since the evacuation ended.

"I think those people, they just held off," Fraser said. "And now they're coming. We see our campsite full. We're seeing people walking around town. The museum is full of people.

"So we're pretty optimistic as we look over our shoulders at where these fires are burning."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024.

Scientists at the World Resources Institute and the University of Maryland calculated how devastating the impacts of the months-long fires in Canada in 2023 that sullied the air around large parts of the globe. They figured it put 3.28 billion tons (2.98 billion metric tons) of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air, according to a study update published in Thursday's . The update is not peer-reviewed, but the original study was.

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The fire spewed nearly four times the carbon emissions as airplanes do in a year, study authors said. It's about the same amount of carbon dioxide that 647 million cars put in the air in a year, based on .

Forests “remove a lot of carbon from the atmosphere and that gets stored in their branches, their trunks, their leaves and kind of in the ground as well. So when they burn all the carbon that's stored within them gets released back into the atmosphere,” said study lead author James MacCarthy, a research associate with WRI's Global Forest Watch.

When and if trees grow back much of that can be recovered, MacCarthy said, adding “it definitely does have an impact on the global scale in terms of the amount of emissions that were produced in 2023.”

MacCarthy and colleagues calculated that the forest burned totaled 29,951 square miles (77,574 square kilometers), which is six times more than the average from 2001 to 2022. The wildfires in Canada made up 27 per cent of global tree cover loss last year, usually it's closer to 6 per cent, MacCarthy's figures show.

These are far more than regular forest fires, but researchers focused only on tree cover loss, which is a bigger effect, said study co-author Alexandra Tyukavina, a geography professor at the University of Maryland.

“The loss of that much forest is a very big deal, and very worrisome,” said Syracuse University geography and environment professor Jacob Bendix, who wasn't part of the study. “Although the forest will eventually grow back and sequester carbon in doing so, that is a process that will take decades at a minimum, so that there is a quite substantial lag between addition of atmospheric carbon due to wildfire and the eventual removal of at least some of it by the regrowing forest. So, over the course of those decades, the net impact of the fires is a contribution to climate warming.”

It's more than just adding to heat-trapping gases and losing forests, there were health consequences as well, Tyukavina said.

“Because of these catastrophic fires, air quality in populated areas and cities was affected last year,” she said, mentioning New York City's smog-choked summer. More than 200 communities with about 232,000 residents had to be evacuated, according to another not-yet-published or peer-reviewed study by .

One of the authors of the Canadian study, fire expert Mike Flannigan at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, puts the acreage burned at twice what MacCarthy and Tyukavina do.

“The 2023 fire season in Canada was (an) exceptional year in any time period,” Flannigan, who wasn't part of the WRI study, said in an email. “I expect more fire in our future, but years like 2023 will be rare.”

Flannigan, Bendix, Tyukavina and MacCarthy all said climate change played a role in Canada's big burn. A warmer world means more fire season, more lightning-caused fires and especially drier wood and brush to catch fire “associated with increased temperature,” Flannigan wrote. The average May to October temperature in Canada last year was almost 4 degrees (2.2 degrees Celsius) warmer than normal, his study found. Some parts of Canada were 14 to 18 degrees (8 to 10 degrees Celsius) hotter than average in May and June, MaCarthy said.

There's short-term variability within trends, so it's hard to blame one specific year and area burned on climate change and geographic factors play a role, still “there is no doubt that climate change is the principal driver of the global increases in wildfire," Bendix said in an email.

With the world warming from climate change, Tyukavina said, “the catastrophic years are probably going to be happening more often and we are going to see those spikier years more often.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Mayor Denise O'Connor told a news conference Tuesday ahead of the anniversary that there's good news, with the first building permit being issued for a grocery store, but bad news too, with some residents deciding not to return to rebuild their lives.

She said the community had about 200 residents before the wildfire destroyed 90 per cent of the structures in the downtown core and it is now home to far fewer people. Also lost were Lytton's corporate records, bylaws and policies.

"We lost everything," said O'Connor, including the river-view home where she lived with her family for more than 30 years. "But we are a much better place than we were last year, but we still have a long way to go."

The wildfire that killed two people on June 30, 2021, occurred as much of the province baked under a heat dome that had culminated a day earlier when Lytton experienced Canada's hottest recorded temperature of 49.6 C.

The B.C. Coroners Service says there were 619 heat-related deaths during the heat-dome period from June 25 to July 1.

O'Connor said she and her council were elected to rebuild the village, but they had been "challenged with the bureaucracy" that made the process take longer than anticipated.

"I had no idea coming into this role as mayor it would be quite like it is," she said.

O'Connor said construction costs had skyrocketed since the wildfire and many people who lost homes and businesses have had to apply for insurance claims extensions twice, while federal funding under net zero and fire-resilient building initiatives continue to be inaccessible to many owners.

The costs for property owners to meet requirements under the Heritage Conservation Act, to protect Indigenous historical and archeological resources, were "prohibitive," she said.

But despite the barriers facing Lytton, O'Connor cited rebuilding progress over the past year. That has included 13 residential and two commercial building permits being issued, the opening of a temporary village office, the restoration of municipal water and sewer infrastructure, and the lifting of a local state of emergency to allow residents to access their properties.

The potential rebuilding of the village grocery store and the sounds of home construction had people sensing that a recovery was underway, O'Connor said.

"It's getting pretty tiring driving to Ashcroft, Hope or Lillooet for groceries," she said.

The third anniversary of the wildfire is a solemn reminder of those who lost their lives and the many homes, businesses, municipal buildings and livelihoods destroyed, said O'Connor.

She said residents would gather for a barbecue on Sunday's anniversary to recognize firefighters and others who supported the community, during and after the wildfire.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2024.

Bryan Fogelman, the owner of REO Rafting and Yoga Resort in Boston Bar, says it cost roughly $450,000 to rebuild the family-run business—a quarter of which was paid through donations.

“We received a lot of support from clients who visited us from Europe, the United States, all over,” the 67-year-old explains. “This isn’t just a small little local business; we’ve had a positive impact on over 120,000 people from around the world and they showed some support from us, which was great,” Fogelman adds, noting the resort has led to dozens of marriages—including his own.

His family was desperate for financial help because the resort hadn’t been insured for fires in years, due to its remote location in the Nahatlatch River area.

That’s where the Kookipi Creek wildfire first erupted on July 7, 2023. It was brought under control weeks later, before strong southwesterly winds arrived mid-August, sparking the flames back up.

At that time, an incident management team with B.C. Wildfire Service had assumed command of the fire, while other resources were diverted to battle several out-of-control blazes burning in the Okanagan.

Fortunately, all 65 guests and staff at the resort managed to escape safely, but Fogelman says he wishes the Fraser Canyon got more attention and support during B.C.’s record-breaking wildfire season.

“It kind of felt like we were on our own,” says Fogelman. “Our area was triaged—it was just deemed less important, less valuable.”

He’s determined to make sure the same devastation never happens again.

Rebuilding efforts have included a complete overhaul of the resort’s waterline system, which used to be partially above ground. Now, it’s been replaced by a larger, more durable pipe that’s buried one-metre deep and distributes water across 800 metres of the property.

Fogelman says the resort is also working with the Stein Nahatlatch Initiative, which operates one of Canada’s 120 Guardians programs.

Guardians are trained First Nations members who serve as stewards of their territories and are often the first to respond to emergencies in remote areas.

In April 2023, B.C.’s government committed to investing $8.9 million over three years to support these programs, with the goal of launching its own Guardians and Stewardship Training Initiative in spring 2024.

CTV News has reached out to the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship for an update on the engagement process that started earlier this year.

“I think local guardians will make a huge difference in B.C. because they live in the area, care about the area and they will defend it,” says Fogelman. “So I’m really hoping this is something that gains traction in B.C. because no area should be neglected like we were last year.”

The challenge the family now faces is spreading the word that their resort is open before the season comes to a close in mid-September.

Fogelman says bookings are down by about 75 per cent.

“In the winter and spring, we were afraid to really get the word out there,” he explains. “As a family business we wanted to make sure that: one, we could meet our target of the June 1 reopening and two, that guests would love the experience.”

Based on the success of opening weekend, he’s confident that the resort is just as special now as it was when he first opened it in 1982.

“We had 42 rafters and over 30 guests and they were all so appreciative and inspired—they could see what we’ve done to reshape the property,” says Fogelman.

“Just getting them out of the busy city world and into nature—I think it does something to people, and they do connect with each other out here.”

Contour Helicopters gave CTV News an exclusive look at the ex-US military chopper as it performed test flights of its water retrieval and storage system over the Fraser River under a bluebird sky on Thursday.

"Cal Fire and LA County have been using these aircraft for over 20 years and they have a long history of wildfire suppression," said owner, Colin Pelton. "This aircraft is on average about 50 knots faster than existing aircraft, so we can get to the fire faster and we can put three to four times more water per drop."

The aircraft is equipped with what appears to be a rectangular orange box on the belly of the aircraft with a hose it dips into a lake or river, suctioning 4,500 litres of water in under a minute, and can then rapidly ascend to deploy the water in an aggressive attack on wildfire.

"Its reaction time and the water on site to the fire that quickly and the amount of water it’s hauling, it’s going to be a game-changer," said pilot, Chris Guderyan.

The Black Hawk is a two-pilot aircraft, with flight crew the only ones permitted on board, even after full approvals. Pelton expects that'll happen by early next week, with the aircraft on standby for deployment after that.

Not a quick purchase

Purchasing an aircraft that was designed and built for the American military comes with hurdles: Contour refurbished and upgraded the 1980s aircraft over several months in the U.S., and needed export permits from the State Department, plus special approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration and Transport Canada to get it to its new home base at Fort Langley Airport.

It now has several modifications for civilian use, including LED lights, a special window to help the pilots see for long-line rescues and other maneuverers, and is flown differently from the most common helicopters, which have one-pilot setups.

"It’s a totally different strategy," said Guderyan. "There’s one person flying and will be bucketing and the other person will be watching the gauges and the power settings and communicating with other aircraft."

BC Wildfire Service relying on aerial attack

The BC Wildfire Service, which is now a year-round agency within the Ministry of Forests, is increasingly using aerial attack strategies as the fires become larger, more intense, and particularly when they threaten homes and infrastructure.

"Because of the size, scope, complexity and scale of these fires," explained Bryce Moreira, BCWS aviation preparedness officer, "the sooner we get there – the better chance we have of an effective fire suppression effort."

The wildfire service has standing agreements with 120 aviation companies in B.C. and other provinces, pre-authorizing them to call on their pilots and aircraft when needed, in addition to longer-term contracts with tankers and a handful of choppers.

For their needs, bigger means better.

"We are starting to use heavy helicopters similar to the Black Hawk or UH60-A more and more each year, and it is because they can drop a lot of water and it allows us to spread a fleet across different areas," said Moreira.

BCWS is slowly expanding its nighttime firefighting, with an open request for proposal for a short-term contract for peak wildfire season in mid-July through the end of August.

Pelton expects to have his certification fully sorted in time to apply with the hope the Black Hawk can be used to its full potential.

"As we get into the core of the fire season, namely July and August, that underlying drought is really going to play a huge driver in bringing us intense fires," Matt MacDonald, the lead fire weather forecaster for the BC Wildfire Service, told reporters in Vancouver Thursday.

Officials in B.C. are particularly concerned about the low snowpack in the province, confirming Thursday that it is currently only 57 per cent of the norm. The province says the low snowpack will limit surface runoff, stream flows, and fuel moisture recharge, which could make for a potentially dangerous recipe come July and August.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan also provided an update Thursday in Ottawa, on the drought-stricken regions considered highest risk across the country.

"Key areas of concern include northeastern British Columbia, northern Alberta, south central Northwest Territories, and northern Quebec," Sajjan said.

This year has actually started relatively slowly on the fire front, according to Sajjan.

"The good news is the number of fires is well below average for this time of the year, it’s also well below the 10-year average for the total area burned."

That is expected to change as the temperature climbs. Environment Canada is already warning the chance of a hotter than average summer is virtually 100 per cent almost everywhere east of Manitoba. Above average heat is also expected on the prairies, and out west, but with less certainty.

Sajjan spoke alongside Energy and Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson who touted new government investment in the yearly wildfire fight, coming off a record-breaking 2023.

"Last summer Canadians experienced the most destructive forest fire season in Canadian history. The federal government has been working and is working aggressively to ensure Canadians are prepared."

Wilkinson pointed to Ottawa's $250 million investment in new equipment, and $28 million for more help on the front line.

"We’re on track to train 1,000 additional firefighters by the end of this year, which is three years ahead of schedule," Wilkinson said.

In B.C., the provincial government is making it easier for fire evacuees to access support, increasing the accommodation allowance to $200 per night, which is now available through Interac e-transfer as well as at evacuation centres.

"By increasing the accommodation allowance and giving people the option to receive financial support directly to their bank account we're empowering people with more options to find suitable accommodation for themselves and their loved ones during times of crisis," B.C.’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, Bowinn Ma, said in a statement.

The government says the rating points to a lack of precipitation through much of the area is to blame for the change.

"Although some much-needed precipitation fell in some areas of the CFA, it was very localized and only decreased the in the immediate area. This week will bring more warm temperatures and dry conditions," officials said in an online statement.

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There are also some very strong winds in the forecast, said officials, which could make firefighting efforts more difficult when required, they added.

Despite the risk, there are no active wildfires in the region, which stretches from west of Carstairs, Cochrane and Calgary, down to west of Pincher Creek.

Since Jan. 1, there have been 45 wildfires in the CFA, burning approximately 11.96 hectares of land.

Fire ban still in place for Calgary and area

A fire ban remains in place for the city of Calgary and many surrounding communities because of a that has created a water shortage.

Calgary officials said Tuesday they issued 71 notices for active fire pits since the was called in the city and 58 of those cases have been resolved.

Bylaw officers have also issued nine written warnings and 28 verbal warnings to other residents.

"We'd like to remind Calgarians that gas and propane fire pits are not allowed to be used during the fire ban," said Sue Henry, chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency.

Calgary fire chief Steve Dongworth says "the risk of a low water supply is very real."

"The Calgary Fire Department has taken a measured and cautious approach in the advice we are offering Calgarians and the direction we are providing businesses when it comes to fire prevention," he said during Tuesday's update of Calgary's water main break.

The restrictions are also in place for businesses and he says they have been working with the Calgary Construction Association to come up with solutions that would satisfy the need for fire prevention as well as help their projects progress.

"The fire department is now allowing roofing work that involves hot air welding and cold processes roofing, including new construction projects, providing that a fire watch is maintained for 60 minutes post application and is followed by an inspection four hours after completion."

Many other forms of construction work is still restricted under the current fire ban including hot works with an open flame or with bitumen and tar kettles on new construction or existing structures.

The BC Wildfire Service says in a social media statement that the 123-square-kilometre fire in northeastern B.C. is not expected to grow beyond its current boundary.

All evacuation alerts connected to the fire have been lifted.

The Parker Lake blaze came within a few kilometres of Fort Nelson on May 10, prompting the evacuation of most of the town.

The fire destroyed four homes and damaged several other properties.

Rain and cooler temperatures have allowed crews to reduce the wildfire, which is mainly smouldering in the ground, although the service says residents can still expect to see smoke coming from the perimeter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2024.

Peter Dominey often thinks back to that day.

“Me and my nine-year old at the time were up flying kites in the schoolyard and it was just a beautiful, wonderful day. The smile on his face was incredible. We left there, got home and two-and-a-half hours later we were evacuated. It went from being one of the best days to one of the worst days imaginable,” said Dominey.

He remembers the fear and uncertainty as he evacuated with his son.

“Leaving here was scary. There was a neighbour who was in his car trying to drive away and that caught on fire, too,” he said.

As Dominey evacuated the area, he prayed their home would be spared.

“I lost two sheds and several vehicles burned here. As far as my house goes, it melted the siding. There’s hole in the shingles and my deck caught on fire in the back,” he said. “But I am one of the lucky ones.”

Firefighters were able to save the rest of his home before the fire spread further. However, others in the community suffered various degrees of losses.

“I mean you can look across the street. They’ve lost everything,” said Dominey.

More than 200 structures, including about 150 homes, were destroyed as a result of the nearly 840-hectare fire in Upper Tantallon and Hammonds Plains.

Tricia Murray-D’eon is among the residents in Hammonds Plains who lost her home to the fire.

“We loved our house, we loved our property and now it’s completely gone. It’s a lot and I’m trying to give space to that and feel okay with feeling some loss and feeling grief,” said Murray-D’eon.

She said she cannot forget the day or the house the fire started, forcing her to evacuate with her 8-year-old daughter.

“I’m still figuring out how I feel. It’s always in the background. Leading up to today and for the next couple of days I feel like this whole week I’ll have glimpses of where we were last year,” she said.

Since the fire, Murray-D’eon said she is even more alert in case of any emergency.

“We’re in active fire season again and I’m not putting my phone on ‘do not disturb’ anymore overnight because I’m wary of missing an evacuation notice,” she said.

For the last year, the communities in Hammonds Plains and Upper Tantallon have echoed with the sounds of reconstruction.

A year later, many are still rebuilding, including Murray-D’eon.

“We got our permit in April so we started with our rebuild in the first week of May. I think our building permit was issued around the third week of April so my contract with my builder says 10 months after the permit was issued,” she said,

While Murray-D’eon is looking forward to returning to her community, it is bittersweet.

“Our home took a little longer because the city didn’t have our floor plans, so we had to design the home from scratch and figure things out that way,” she said.

Some homes in the area are seeing significant progress, however, others are far from complete.

There are also some properties that are not being built; instead, the land is up for sale.

The (DNRR) reports forest conditions are stable but they urge caution.

“March (was) dry and any moisture we could get now we will certainly take,” said Jim Rudderham, director of .

For more Nova Scotia news visit our 

Michael Cookson, a former wildland firefighter who now works with Waterax, a leading Canadian developer of wildfire fighting equipment, says technology is advancing even as wildfire risk grows.

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On the ground, wildland firefighters are given a variety of tools that have been developed to give them an edge on fires.

"The Mark 3, if you've been at any wildfire across the country, it's the pump you've seen. It's been around since 1964, but we've also introduced the Watson – we want to make it the modern pump for the modern firefighter," he said.

Cookson says Waterax improved the pump by reducing its weight and making it easier to start and maintain.

The Watson can be brought into the field to use any water source – be it a creek, river or swamp – to create a spray.

"It's a big game changer because it can move water miles and miles," he said. "You can do multiple setups, so set up a pump, move 1,000 feet and set up another pump."

He says the new version of the pump is also mounted on a harness so it can be carried to wherever it's needed, whenever it's needed.

According to Alberta Wildfire's online dashboard, there are 14 in the province, with one of those in the Peace River Forest Area listed as out-of-control.

That fire, which was discovered at 2 p.m. on May 27, has burned approximately 26 hectares.

The fire danger in the is still low.

Cookson hopes the season will be calm for wildland firefighters for as long as possible.

"Right now, it looks like the weather is holding off, so hopefully it will be like that for a while."

Incident commander Hugh Murdock said while the fires burning closest to Fort Nelson – which forced thousands to evacuate – are getting the most attention, the region as a whole is seeing “a tremendous amount of fire.”

In total, roughly 2,500 square kilometres are currently burning, he said. The Parker Lake and Patry Creek fires, which are closest to the community and are being battled by 130 firefighters, only account for about a third of that total area.

“The summer is going to be a long one, I think,” Murdock said. “It’s had an early start again and there seems to be just so much fire on the landscape so early and it’s not just going to be lightning that gives us our starts but these holdover fires.”

Holdover fires are ones that sparked last year, have been smoldering throughout the winter and reignited this spring.

Eric Kopetski, a fire behavior specialist, says one of the biggest challenges for crews is the ongoing drought which has resulted in a lot of downed or danger trees.

“The fire’s getting under these trees and we have to clear them to get it out and it’s taking a lot of time and effort,” he said.

The primary concern in the coming days is the potential for thunderstorms, which can bring lightning as well as strong winds.

“This weather, combined with dry fuel conditions, may result in elevated fire behaviour, increased rates of spread and new wildfire starts, which may challenge suppression efforts,” according to the BCWS’ provincial situation report for Sunday.

Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Fort Nelson Sunday. 

The McDougall Creek wildfire burned through dozens of properties, including Arturo Peralta’s home.

The Wilson’s Landing volunteer firefighter watched as his house went up in flames as he worked to contain the blaze.

Nine months later, he still remains without a home.

“When the fire was happening, every politician came to the meetings and said, ‘We will help, we will make it easier for you, we will expedite the permits, we will expedite the processes,’” he said. “That has not happened.”

He and his wife went to Mexico for the winter. But when they returned this spring, they decided to put their RV on their property as a makeshift home at Lake Okanagan Resort.

"I told the strata many moons ago that as soon as I was coming back to Canada I needed to live in the resort because I didn't have the funds to do it any other way,” he said.

He has since had a porta-potty installed and hauls water in weekly. But on Thursday, he received a call from his fire chief, who said his temporary accommodations weren’t accepted by everyone within his neighbourhood.

"He called me up and he says, 'Art, I we received this phone call from the (regional district) and they're telling me that they're going to remove you from the resort in 24 hours," Peralta said.

There are 22 lots on the property; only three homes survived last summer’s blaze.

Peralta says he was confronted by one of those homeowners earlier in the week who was upset he wasn’t following bylaws that prohibit his parked trailer.

CTV News reached out to the Regional District of Central Okanagan, which confirmed it received a complaint and that its fire chief did contact the owner. But the district's message to CTV News was different than what Peralta had heard.

“The goal of our bylaw enforcement program is voluntary compliance, beginning with education, and we will be working with the individual to gain compliance. There is no intention of towing the RV,” The RDCO said in statement.

“We also know that recovery for the homeowners within Lake Okanagan Resort is challenging because of the extent of the damage to private electric, water and wastewater infrastructure,” the statement continued.

According to Peralta, the strata will vote Thursday to decide if they should rebuild or accept the insurance payout, which would amount to roughly $350,000.

He calls the amount disappointing and a far cry from what he paid for his property.

He’s hoping to rebuild instead.

"We contacted the RDCO, we're trying to get answers to see if we can get rebuilt, and the amount of red tape and hurdles that we're having to jump, are too many,” said Peralta.

He continues to pay property taxes, strata fees and insurance in the meantime.

On top of what he calls a "nightmare," the firefighter’s cancer has returned.

"I'm running out of answers, I'm running out of options, so I'm doing something with my property," he said. 

Environment Canada’s colour-coded Air Quality Health Index, designed to help people understand health risks associated with contaminated air, was closely watched under hazy, orange skies that stretched beyond the Canada-U.S. border.

But the AQHI, measured on a scale from one to 10+, was not calculated the same way in all provinces and some people were unsure how index values applied to their daily activities.

Environment Canada hopes several changes being made this year will improve how air quality-related health risks are communicated and understood by the public.

One of those changes is to the department’s go-to website for weather conditions and warnings across the country: weather.gc.ca. Users can now toggle between different layers of active alerts and display only those related to air quality if that’s their main concern. Detailed air quality warnings are also listed under a separate tab.

When the AQHI exceeds 10 due to wildfire smoke — indicating a “very high” health risk — affected areas appear red on the map.

A new type of air quality advisory will also be issued to warn of potentially worsening health effects and urge people to seriously consider cancelling outdoor events, said Celine Audette, manager of health and air quality forecast services at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

This change was prompted by a “record number” of AQHI 10+ scores during last year’s wildfire season, she said in a phone interview.

That level “exceeds any kind of air quality objective across the world,” Audette said. “It was the worst air quality in Canada, worse than India.”

She said the aim of the stronger advisory language on especially smoky days is to better inform people and help prevent health issues.

That’s also the goal of another, more complex, change that occurred last week.

Audette said Ontario and Alberta have now joined most other provinces in using the federal government's enhanced version of the AQHI, which measures the levels of fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 in the air on an hourly basis.

PM 2.5 comes from a wide range of sources, including power plants and vehicles, and it’s a particularly harmful component of wildfire smoke that can travel deep into a person’s lungs and cause or exacerbate health complications.

For years, the “classic” version of the AQHI measured a three-hour rolling average of common air pollutants: ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide and PM 2.5.

But British Columbia changed this after realizing the index did not reflect PM 2.5 spikes caused by wildfires and would display low scores even as plumes of smoked rolled in.

Environment Canada has adopted the B.C. model and now runs two parallel calculations: the rolling average of the three air pollutants and the hourly PM 2.5 levels. The AQHI score the public sees is based on whichever measure is higher.

“I think people will see a big difference,” Audette said of the switch.

“In the period of wildfire smoke, if the plume is increasing in your area, you'll see a difference (in AQHI levels) every hour.”

She said that means a summer program or daycare provider, for example, can quickly adjust kids’ outdoor schedules, and people with asthma can more accurately assess their risks throughout the day if they plan to be outside.

People who want to closely monitor the AQHI in their area can also download the WeatherCAN app and set up custom notifications, she added.

Quebec will continue to rely on its own Info-Smog air quality forecast and warning program, which works well for the province, Audette said.

She said the general health advice during wildfire season remains the same. Everyone should pay attention to air quality advisories in their region and take precautions when AQHI values start to climb.

A rating of 1-3 is low risk, 4-6 is moderate risk, 7-10 is high risk and over 10 is very high risk.

But at-risk groups – including people with respiratory or heart conditions, those who are pregnant, children and the elderly – may feel the effects of smoke and air pollution at moderate levels. When that happens, they should stay indoors as much as possible until the smoke dissipates and wear a well-fitted N95 face mask if they must venture outside, Audette said.

“About 60 per cent of the population is considered at-risk,” she said but noted that air quality advisories are meant to inform, not “scare people.”

“We don't want people to be stressed. They need to also take care of their mental health.”

One expert at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said it’s important to put Canada’s air pollution spikes into perspective because the stress and anxiety induced by smoky skies can be more harmful to human health than the smoke itself.

“For the most part, we have excellent air quality in Canada,” Sarah Henderson, the scientific director of environmental health services, said in a phone interview.

“There are folks in the world who live in conditions like we experienced last year, day in and day out throughout their lives because they live in highly polluted cities. And, you know, they still can live long, happy, healthy lives.”

Henderson said air pollution is one of “many, many risk factors” that affect our health and while it’s important to reduce our exposure to wildfire smoke, we shouldn’t panic and eliminate “all of the other good things in our lives because it's smoky outside.”

“I never want anyone to panic about wildfire smoke. I want them to take it seriously,” she said. “I want them to look at ways that they can reduce exposure in their lives.”

Henderson said staying inside all summer is not the answer for most people. Healthy adults can take simple measures such as masking up on smoky days, she said. If air quality is not ideal, children can still participate in non-strenuous outdoor activities as long as they’re being monitored, she added.

Since wildfire smoke can easily penetrate indoor spaces, people who have chronic respiratory conditions or are pregnant should have a plan that keeps the air in their homes clean, Henderson said. Portable air cleaners and high-efficiency filters can help.

"I want to get to the point where smoke doesn't cause people such distress as it does now,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2024. 

How can I check the air quality reading in my area?

The is available through Environment and Climate Change Canada.

You can take a look at the ratings in communities across your province or territory.

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A rating of 1-3 is low risk, 4-6 is moderate risk, 7-10 is high risk and over 10 is very high risk.

Environment Canada also encourages people to download the WeatherCAN app and set personal notifications for the AQHI in their region.

How is risk assessed?

Environment Canada, in consultation with Health Canada, has different recommendations for people especially at risk of suffering health problems when exposed to poor air quality versus the general population.

"At risk" people include those with respiratory and heart issues. Infants, young children, pregnant people and elderly people are also considered at higher risk. They may feel symptoms from air pollution even at "moderate risk" levels.

Environment Canada has a detailed breakdown on its website of how the different risk categories affect the general population and more vulnerable groups.

What's changing this year?

When the AQHI exceeds 10 due to wildfire smoke, indicating a “very high” health risk, a new type of air quality advisory will be issued warning of potentially worsening health effects and urging people to seriously consider cancelling outdoor events.

Users of Environment Canada's go-to website for weather conditions are now also able to see all active air quality-related alerts listed under a separate tab. When the AQHI reaches 10+, affected areas will be shown in red on the map.

• Get the latest updates on wildfires across Canada all in one place

Celine Audette, manager of health and air quality forecast services at Environment and Climate Change Canada, also said most provinces are now using an enhanced version of the AQHI, which measures the levels of fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 on an hourly basis.

The enhanced AQHI runs two parallel calculations: the rolling average of three common air pollutants — ground-level ozone, nitrogen dioxide and PM 2.5. — and the hourly PM 2.5 levels. The AQHI score the public sees is based on whichever measure is higher.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2024.

That was the date the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) received its first notice for fire resources for the season, which was exceptionally early according to its standards.

By May 6, Alberta had declared a state of emergency. According to Alberta Wildfire, 48 communities across the province were affected with more than 38, 000 Albertans forced out of their homes.

Alexandria Jones with CIFFC says the agency had never been busier than it was in 2023, receiving requests for resources not just in Alberta, but across the country, as wildfires raged in all provinces and territories. The Canadian National Fire Database states more than 7,100 wildfires burned more than 17 million hectares of land, 10 times the previous record set in 1989.

“CIFFC goes up to a level five national preparedness level, and that means that we're pulling in international resources, and the demand on CIFFC is high to get resource across the country,” said Jones.

“And so last year, we saw upwards of 5,500 international resources come into the country from all across the world, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Portugal, Australia, the United States and more.”

Natural Resources Canada attributed the unprecedented wildfire season to several environmental factors, including early snowmelt, and drought conditions in Western and Eastern Canada. Furthermore, it says the mean temperature in the country between May and October was 2.2 C warmer than normal, creating ripe conditions for extreme wildfires.

Dr. Mike Flannigan, a professor of wildland fire at the Thompson River City University in Kamloops, B.C., says the world is warming and with increasing temperatures, there will be more fires.

“As it gets warmer, the atmosphere gets more efficient at sucking moisture out of the forest fuels so that they’re drier,” he said.

This year, the wildfire season is already in full swing. Firefighters are battling two major blazes near Fort Nelson, B.C., and Fort McMurray forcing thousands of people out of their homes.

In Alberta, the wildfires season was declared about 12 weeks earlier than last year. Drought conditions and dozens of carry-over fires from 2023, which are blazes that lay dormant during the winter months, contributed to a premature start.

“These have woken up now that the snow is gone and we had some warm, dry, windy weather last week. And these fires grew, and that’s not what typically happens. Normally, we don’t see these fires grow in size. So we’re off to a very active start, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said Flannigan.

However, despite the earlier wildfire season, Alberta Fire says 500, 000 hectares of land was scorched around this time last year, compared to 30, 000 hectares this year.

Officials say at this point, they can’t predict how the wildfire season will evolve in 2024, but are preparing for what could be a challenging season. In an email to CTV News, they said, “we have increased staffing levels to prepare for a potentially busy wildfire season by hiring an additional 100 firefighters.”

While rain and cooler weather in both the Fort Nelson and Fort McMurray areas have reduced the wildfire risk, it doesn’t mean the communities are out of the woods, said Dr. Flannigan.

“We will need lots of rain over a long period of time to get out of this. So we’re in a cooler, showery period for the next seven days in this part of the world, but once it warms up, we’re ready to burn in a couple days and things could flare up.”

Christian left home with some sentimental items — gifts from her late father, a wood carving Dylan had made her in kindergarten — important paperwork and their cat, Clawed.

"I remember yelling to my son upstairs that we had to go," Christian said in an email to CTVNews.ca. Dylan was 26 at the time. "He thought I was joking at first. He was on the phone to his girlfriend, who was in Ontario at the time, and she had been watching the news. He told her, 'Mum's losing it, she's pulling things off the wall.'"

• Complete coverage of the 2024 wildfire season

It wasn't a joke though, as everything they left behind was lost in the fire, along with the house.

Speaking to CTVNews.ca over Zoom from Edmonton, amid another round of wildfire evacuations in Alberta on Wednesday, Christian said she learned some valuable lessons that spring.

Have things ready to go

Christian, a former journalist, lost some things in the fire that were especially painful to let go of, like her entire professional portfolio and a cherished necklace of macaroni and paper hearts — another kindergarten craft by Dylan.

Now, she keeps everything she might need or want, in the event of an evacuation, packed, organized and ready to go.

"I have an old suitcase under my bed and it has all my important papers," she said. "That's my mortgage papers, my insurance papers, my birth certificate, my passport, everything like that."

She also has a bag full of memory sticks containing important archived files.

She suggested keeping other items like blankets, flashlights, water and snacks in a "go bag" as well. In the rush to get out the door in 2016, Christian and Dylan forgot food and water and had to sit through seven hours of smoke-choked traffic as trees burned on either side of the road.

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Having all these things ready frees up precious time to gather other important day-to-day items, such as medication, prescriptions and any food, supplies or medicine for the family pet. Christian said it's important to be organized in advance, because it can be hard to think clearly in the heat of the moment.

"We used to do the fire drills in school and things … But when it really happens for real, it's something different," she said. "After (the evacuation) people would start joking about the stuff they took with them, like, 'I grabbed the cheese slices and my ski pants.'"

The Canadian and Alberta governments offer more advice on their websites on how to create an emergency plan, pack an emergency kit, plan for transportation, prepare financially, secure your home and evacuate safely.

Have your insurance bases covered

Once they were out of harm's way, Christian got to work figuring out where they would stay and calling her insurance provider.

In addition to covering the cost to repair or rebuild a home damaged by fire, home insurance policies offer different levels of coverage for day-to-day costs you wouldn't normally face while living in your own home. This is called additional living expense (ALE) coverage.

Christian recommends anyone worried about having to evacuate their home check to make sure their policy includes sufficient ALE coverage.

"This is what's going to pay for your hotel or lodging, your food, clothing," she said, explaining that her policy's ALE coverage even took care of her rent for more than two years while she rebuilt her house. "It's really important for people to check their policies to make sure they have this additional coverage because it's a huge help."

She also learned that documenting the contents of your home in advance can save a lot of effort later if you lose those things in a fire or other disaster.

"Go through your home and take pictures of every room so that you see everything that you have," she said. "Because when you're making that insurance claim after, it makes it so much easier."

Take care of yourself

During the evacuation in 2016, Christian says she felt a lack of control over the situation, grief over everything she was leaving behind and fear for her family's safety.

"It's terrifying to be sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic watching trees around you start burning. You start thinking your car is going to be your coffin," she said. "And it's hard because you have a sense ... like you had no control, that you couldn't keep your family safe, that you couldn't keep your house safe, that you somehow failed."

Christian realized once the ash had settled that she, like many of her neighbours, had been traumatized by the Fort McMurray wildfires. Beyond the initial fear for their safety and the material loss of their house and possessions, she and Dylan had lost their anchor and familiar place, too.

"When you lose your home in a fire, you're losing a piece of yourself," she said.

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"During evacuation, you just want to go home and be with your stuff, to be with the familiar, but you can't, and being in that limbo is very disconcerting for people because you're not grounded anymore. It's like you've lost yourself."

In the years since the fire, Christian has talked through her experience with a mental health professional. She's also trained in traumatology — a form of trauma counselling — and critical incident stress management. Through it all, she's learned the importance of turning to friends, family and professionals for emotional support.

"Remember to look after yourself," she said. "When it's over, talk to each other and talk to a professional, if needed, to help you come to terms with this event and all the emotional and mental health issues that result from it." 

But the wildfire burning out of control near Fort McMurray could put a crimp in this year's May long weekend and the start of the summer tourism season, Wettlaufer acknowledged. 

"There are no roads to our operations, it's all fly-in, fly-out. So depending on what's happening at any of the locations we fly from, it can definitely affect our ability to put on our trips," Wettlaufer said.

"We have people booked to come up this weekend through Fort McMurray. Fortunately, we do have some flexibility in that we could reroute them through Edmonton or Fort Smith (N.W.T.) if necessary."

Andrew Lake Lodge attracts visitors from across the country, the U.S., Europe and Asia looking to experience fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing in a pristine wilderness location. 

The lodge is 400 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray, not anywhere close to the fire that triggered an evacuation order for parts of that community this week. 

But Wettlaufer, like many in Canada's tourism sector, is concerned about the ripple effects of increased wildfire activity on his industry. Last year, he had to cancel or reschedule a number of his clients' trips as smoke from fires in the Northwest Territories made taking off and landing at his lodge's landing strip too dangerous.

Wettlaufer said he worries not just about potential losses related to evacuation orders, travel difficulties and smoke-filled skies, but also indirect impacts such as reputational damage to the country as a whole.

"Internationally, when people hear of Canadian wildfires, they may think it is the whole country that's on fire," he said. 

"We're trying to change the optics on that, but it's hard to do that other than with the people who know exactly where (in the country) they're going." 

Last year was Canada's worst wildfire season on record, with more than 100,000 square kilometres burned from the West Coast to the Atlantic provinces and the Far North. 

One of the worst fires last summer occurred in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley in August, prompting evacuation orders for more than 35,000 people.

At the Big White Ski Resort in that region, which hosts mountain biking and a variety of events and festivals in the summer, senior vice-president Michael Ballingall said he is worried that forecasts for a significant wildfire season in 2024 will scare off some guests.

"We’re already hearing people question whether it’s a good summer to come (to the Okanagan)," Ballingall said.

"You can never out-market the news."

Marsha Walden, CEO of tourism marketing Crown corporation Destination Canada, said last year's headline-grabbing fire season — as well as the fires currently raging in Western Canada — have an impact on people's perception of this country.

But she said her organization's own research shows only one in 10 potential visitors to Canada will consider completely cancelling a trip due to wildfire activity.

"Most will adjust their itinerary or their timing," she said. "So we have seen short-term dips in visitation ... but people still want to take their holiday."

Stavros Karlos, with the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta, said increasing incidences of wildfire and smoke across the country are a huge concern to the sector as a whole. 

He said it's important that tourism businesses have access to up-to-the-minute, accurate information about wildfire activity and air quality so that they can cancel events, change their hours, or move activities indoors if necessary.

"In some cases, operators may have the opportunity to still provide an experience, albeit somewhat modified," Karlos said. 

While a final tally hasn't been completed, last summer's wildfires likely cost B.C.'s Okanagan region millions of dollars in lost tourism revenues, said Ellen Walker-Matthews, CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association.

What makes wildfire so challenging from a planning perspective is its sporadic nature, Walker-Matthews said. Smoke, for example, can shift rapidly on changing winds, affecting one community one day and one 1,000 kilometres away the next.

"We're just trying to really promote what we have and make sure that people know what the real-time, actual situation is," said Walker-Matthews, adding the long weekend weather forecast for the Okanagan this year is "beautiful ... spectacular" with no fire activity in sight.

"There's lots of things to see and do, and I think as long as we just communicate out the facts accurately, we'll see tourism continue to be strong."

- With files from Christopher Reynolds

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2024.

, which is operated by the weather forecast research team at the University of British Columbia, southern B.C. including Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island could see some smoky skies in the region starting Friday evening. 

Dr. Melissa Lem spoke to CTV Morning Live Thursday about the health impacts of wildfire smoke.

"The high and very high risk air quality events get a lot of attention but the negative health impacts from wildfire smoke also start to build up at lower levels," she said.

Lem explained about two-thirds of patient visits to doctors for asthma happen when the air quality risk is "in the low and moderate range," which is when smoke and haze might not be visible.

Research is also beginning to emerge about the long-term impacts of wildfire smoke. Some of the most alarming results, Lem said, were the impacts on babies and kids.

Lem explained that 30,000 children who were in utero during the 2017 wildfire season were followed up with by researchers.

"If their moms lived in areas with bad smoke, they were more likely to be born premature and with low birth weight," Lem said. "Even when they grew older, these kids get bronchitis, laryngitis and croup more often. So these smoke events, unfortunately, could be setting kids up for a lifetime of worse health. And that's why it's so important for all of us to have measures in place to protect us."

While Lem said spending time outside is typically good for a person's health, for those with medical conditions like asthma, heart disease or diabetes, it might be better to stay inside when smoke is present.

"If your mental health is suffering, you could consider putting on an N95 mask and heading out into a local green space," she said.

Those who are at higher risk should consider limiting their time outside when the air quality index reaches four or higher, Lem said, adding the rating goes up to 10.

During poor air quality events it's also important to make sure indoor air quality is also safe, Lem advised. Keeping windows closed and using air purifiers with high efficiency particulate air, or HEPA, filters can help.

"We want to avoid creating air pollution inside our homes," she said. "That means avoiding, for example, burning candles or vacuuming and also using gas stoves."