Residents of a BC village that set a Canadian high-temperature record of 49.6 Celsius this week were ordered to evacuate their homes last night due to a wildfire that spread quickly. Mayor Jan Polderman of Lytton issued the order, saying residents and structures were threatened by the blaze in an area where two other fires are already burning. Chief administrative officer Scott Hildebrand of the local regional district says it's tough finding shelter for people who had to scramble to escape the smoke as some homes were burning. Provincial fire information officer Erica Berg says resources wer

British Columbia's top doctor is encouraging people to continue wearing masks in all indoor places, even as they're no longer mandatory starting Canada Day. Dr. Bonnie Henry says masks remain an important layer of protection until more people have immunity from two doses of vaccine, which nearly 31 per cent of residents aged 12 and over have received. Dr. Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix say in a joint statement that 44 new cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed, for a total of nearly 148,000 cases. Of the 816 active cases, 108 people are hospitalized, and 34 of them are in intensive care.

Evacuation orders and alerts are now posted for three wildfires in the Lillooet, Kamloops and Fort St. John areas, as the wildfire season takes hold. Orders and alerts were issued last night as a fire near Pavilion, just north of Lillooet, flared to 50 square kilometres, while residents of 18 addresses around Sparks Lake, north of Kamloops, have also been ordered out. More than 100 other properties in the same area are under an evacuation alert because of a 23-square kilometre fire there. An alert was also posted by the Peace River Regional District in response to a 30-square kilometre blaze

The B.C. Wildfire Service is dealing with two out-of-control blazes in the Interior that have prompted evacuation alerts.The McKay Creek fire was discovered Tuesday burning about 23 kilometres north of Lillooet, and has grown to approximately 50 square kilometres as a result of the hot and dry conditions.The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District has issued an evacuation alert for a large area of West Pavilion Road.The Sparks Lake fire covers 23 square kilometres in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District about 15 kilometres north of Kamloops Lake. An evacuation order has been listed for nine prope

Statistics Canada says the economy contracted in April as real gross domestic product posted its first decline since April 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic.The agency says real gross domestic product fell 0.3 per cent in April.The result compared with an initial estimate for April for a drop of 0.8 per cent.Statistics Canada says its preliminary estimate for May shows a drop of 0.3 per cent as many restrictions were still in place through the month as the country grappled with the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.The decline in April, as well as the early estimate for May, put ov

Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer, and Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, have issued a joint statement regarding updates on the COVID-19 response in British Columbia. BC had 29 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 147,578 cases in British Columbia.There are currently 876 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and a further 144,931 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 110 individuals are currently hospitalized, 34 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.There have been no new COVID-19 related de

A record-breaking heat wave could ease over parts of British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories by tomorrow but any reprieve for the Prairie provinces is further off.Environment Canada says the "historic" weather system shattered 103 heat records across B.C., Alberta, Yukon and N.W.T. yesterday.Those records include a new Canadian all-time high temperature of 47.9 C set in Lytton, B.C., smashing the previous record of 46.6 set in the same village a day earlier.All-time maximum temperature records were also set in the Alberta communities of Jasper, Grande Prairie and Hendrickson Creek f

Premier John Horgan is expected to announce the next phase of B-C's COVID-19 re-opening plan today alongside provincial health officer Doctor Bonnie Henry and Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon.The third part of the four-pronged plan is set to start on Thursday, when several restrictions will be lifted as indoor and outdoor dining will be allowed without a cap on numbers and residents can travel elsewhere in Canada.Henry says vaccination rates continue rising, with some exceptions in small communities in the northern and interior health regions where drive-thru and mobile clinics are expected to make i

Over the last three reporting periods, BC had a total of 145 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 147,549 cases in the province. This includes: 57 new cases from June 25 to 26, 50 new cases from June 26 to 27 and 38 new cases in the last 24 hours. There are currently 930 active cases of COVID-19 in the province. Of the active cases, 107 individuals are currently hospitalized, 37 of whom are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation. There has been one new health-care outbreak at Surrey Memorial Hospital. There have been five new COVID-19 related deaths,