BC Government News Release: Premier’s and Minister’s Statement on Provincial State of Emergency, BC Wildfires

BC is now under a Provincial State of Emergency. People are being asked to cancel non-essential travel to the Central Interior and Southeast of BC, to support the needs of wildfire crews, first responders and evacuees.

Accommodations in these areas are needed for evacuees.

The airspace surrounding Kelowna International Airport has been closed to allow aerial fire-fighting activity for the wildfires in the Kelowna area.

Visitors already in these communities are advised to monitor official information sources regularly, including the BC Wildfire Service and DriveBC. 

Travellers and residents are also encouraged to download and allow notifications from Alertable: an emergency notification app with customizable settings to receive the latest local alerts, such as road closures and evacuation information, straight to your mobile device.

Be prepared for changes/additions to evacuation alerts and orders, found here.

Visit Destination BC’s Know Before You Go webpage for key updates on weather alerts, provincial restrictions, air travel, and more.

Details from the BC Government news release:

Premier David Eby and Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, have released the following statement about the current wildfire situation:

“This year, we are facing the worst wildfire season ever in British Columbia. Over the past 24 hours, the situation has evolved rapidly and we are in for an extremely challenging situation in the days ahead. There are numerous fires across the province threatening communities. Thousands of people are under evacuation orders, and tens of thousands more are on evacuation alert.

“Given these fast-moving conditions, the Province of British Columbia is declaring a provincial state of emergency, under the authority of the Emergency Program Act, to ensure we are in a position to rapidly access any tools we need to support communities as the situation evolves.

“At this time, we’re grateful that people are mostly following our call to not travel to certain areas and to stay out of the way of emergency crews so they can do their jobs. We are also seeing more and more people evacuated – and access to accommodation is becoming increasingly tight in the Interior. We need to ensure that accommodation is available for people who are evacuated.

“A provincial state of emergency allows the Province to enact emergency orders. Emergency orders could include travel restrictions to specific areas if people do not respect our calls to avoid non-essential travel to the central Interior and southeastern B.C.

“We’re calling on all British Columbians to be alert, listen to local officials and follow evacuation orders. We will get through this together.”

Read the full BC Gov news release, here: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2023PREM0054-001323

Media Contacts

Jimmy Smith
Deputy Communications Director
Office of the Premier
jimmy.smith@gov.bc.ca

Krystal Thomson
Communications Director
Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness
250 888-0263
Krystal.Thomson@gov.bc.ca