OTTAWA — The Canadian military was on standby Saturday to help evacuate towns and fight more than 170 wildfires fueled by a record-smashing heat wave and tinder-dry conditions as the government in Ottawa warned of a “long and challenging summer” ahead.
At least 174 fires were active in the western province of British Columbia, 78 of them sparked in the last two days, officials said. Most were caused by intense lightning storms.
The fires were north of the city of Kamloops, 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Vancouver.
“We saw 12,000lightning strikes, roughly, yesterday,” said Cliff Chapman, the director of provincial operations for British Columbia Wildfire S…
Keep on reading: Canadian military on alert as wildfires rage