In Lytton, “fire has caught everywhere”.
This small village of 250 inhabitants located in the Canadian region of British Columbia, some 250 km northeast of Vancouver, alone reveals the extent of the record heat wave that has hit Canada and the United States since almost a week.
After having known Tuesday the absolute record of heat of the country - 49.6 ° C - the inhabitants of Lytton had to evacuate because "the whole village is on fire".
"It took about 15 minutes between the appearance of the first smoke and the moment when the fire had caught everywhere," Mayor Jan Polderman told CBC News.
The fire appears in videos posted on social media, ravaging the hills surrounding the village that residents were leaving under clouds of smoke.
Occupants of 241 other homes in the area also fled the flames.
🔥 After 4 days of historic heat (up to 49.6 ° C), the small town of #Lytton in southwestern #Canada is in the grip of violent fires.
All the inhabitants have been evacuated and houses are going up in smoke.
(https://t.co/uz7aEOUPU5) pic.twitter.com/cKiMPYz1j2
- Guillaume Séchet (@Meteovilles) July 1, 2021
About 9,000 firefighters are currently deployed in the American West, in particular to fight against the advance of the "Lava Fire", on the edge of Oregon and California, which has already consumed more than 7,000 hectares and n 'was only 19% content Wednesday at midday.
Read also47.9 ° C in Canada, 46.1 ° C in the United States: 5 minutes to understand the phenomenon of the "heat dome"
These temperatures are explained by a phenomenon called "heat dome", high pressures trap hot air in the region. However, its intensity is exceptional. “The historic heatwave continues to shatter records” and is expected to last until the end of the week, wrote the Canadian meteorological services, listing a long list of temperatures never before seen in Canada, which sometimes break records set in the 19th century.
The panic of thermometers has claimed victims.
At least 486 people have died suddenly since Friday in British Columbia, about three times the average over such a period, officials said.
"Even though it is too early to say for sure how many of these deaths are heat-related, it is likely that this large excess of mortality is attributable to the extreme weather," said Lisa Lapointe, forensic manager of this event. Canadian state, fearing a worsening of the balance sheet.
"I hope it never happens again"
"It's unbearable, it's impossible to stay outside," comments for her part Rosa, a resident of the metropolis of Vancouver, accustomed to moderate temperatures. "I hope it never happens again, it's too much". In the neighboring US city of Seattle, emergency physicians have also noted an influx of people affected by heat, including kidney or heart problems. At least 16 people have died from hyperthermia in the area, according to local authorities.
#Portland #Oregon #USA #Canicule
The dome of heat which falls in the North West generates new places: "urban cooling centers" to welcome the inhabitants who are too hot.
We will see them more and more "Cooling center". # UrgenceClimatique #ActNow
(@AFP) pic.twitter.com/2PTCFusBDj
- Carlos MORENO (@CarlosMorenoFr) June 29, 2021
The authorities of the two countries have called on the population to minimize their outings, to drink a lot and to check up on single and elderly people, setting up "cooling centers", equipped with air conditioning and misters.
In the Vancouver area, schools have been closed and vaccination campaigns against Covid-19 suspended.
Air conditioners and fans are out of stock.
"The duration of this heat wave is worrying because there is little respite at night," said the Canadian Minister of the Environment.
Trudeau and Biden call for realism
The situation forces the leaders of Canada and the United States to be pragmatic.
“We are seeing more and more of this type of extreme weather event in recent years.
So we have to be realistic, we know that this heat wave will not be the last, ”said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
For his part, US President Joe Biden stressed, addressing his climate-skeptic Republican opponents, that the issue of global warming should not be a “partisan debate”.
The work of firefighters "is no longer seasonal", they face disasters all year round, he added, announcing increases in their salaries.
"Hot days are always hotter, dry days always drier: the reality of global warming is before us," commented Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom.