wildfire

After Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, Ottawa’s mini-budget is scant on investments to protect First Nations and other communities from a new era of fire.

The health risks of wildfires and their disproportionate impacts on First Nations have left health experts calling on Ottawa to increase funding and centralize environmental health research.

Fire chiefs from West Kelowna, Kelowna and Lake Country said homes have been destroyed in their communities, with West Kelowna sustaining the most losses and higher numbers still expected.

The fire was "exponentially worse" than expected, said Jason Brolund, chief of the West Kelowna fire department.

Thousands of residents in the city of 20,000 continued to leave by air or road Friday.

Fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took the island by surprise, racing through parched growth and neighbourhoods in the historic town of Lahaina, a tourist destination that dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island's west side.

Todd Loewen, Alberta's forestry minister,offered condolences to the pilot's family, friends and colleagues on Thursday.

“The economic disruption and costs associated with already existing climate change is something that we don't often think about enough," says Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

The fire prompted more than 16,000 people to be evacuated from their homes in Hammonds Plains, Upper Tantallon and Pockwock, which are suburban communities about 25 kilometres away from Halifax. It destroyed about 200 buildings, including 151 homes.

People with existing heart and lung conditions, seniors, pregnant people, and children are all particularly vulnerable to health issues from smoke inhalation. Smoke inhalation can worsen underlying conditions such as asthma, impact lung function and cause respiratory problems.

The funding, earmarked in Budget 2022, promises $28 million over five years to train 1,000 new community-based firefighters. The pilot involves nine Indigenous organizations and communities.

Fire officials were hoping for a break in the dry, windy weather, but the forecast did not call for any rainfall until Friday night.

Colonialism causes climate change, and Indigenous rights are the solution — a tagline for Indigenous Climate Action that has taken new meaning following Alberta and Saskatchewan's wildfire crisis.

The wildfires in Alberta are just the latest reminder of how omnipresent the climate crisis has become. So why hasn't the campaign focused more on climate issues — and what does that say about politics right now? asks columnist Max Fawcett.

United Conservative Leader Danielle Smith says she will consider making changes amid questions over whether she is politicizing Alberta’s wildfire crisis by using party news conferences to deliver fire updates meant for the broader public.