Environment Canada says much of BC’s coastal region is expected to return to seasonal temperatures today, while central and southern regions of the province are set to endure the heat a day or two longer. A protracted heat wave settled over the southern half of British Columbia this week, sending temperatures in some places into the 40s and breaking more than a dozen temperature records across the province. Canada’s high was also recorded near Lytton yesterday, where temperatures reached 42.1 degrees Celsius. BC Wildfire Service information officer Sarah Budd says the greatest wildfire risk won’t come until tomorrow when cold front from the northwest sets in, and will hit the high-pressure system bringing heat, creating strong winds, dry lightning and a greater potential for new fire starts.
The Wildlife Rescue Association of BC is reporting an uptick in the number of calls and admissions of animals to its hospital amid the ongoing heat wave in southern British Columbia. Hospital manager Kimberly Stephens says some animals are experiencing symptoms of heat exhaustion. She says others are coming into contact with domestic pets, vehicles and humans after fleeing their habitats due to wildfires or because the ongoing drought has depleted their usual food and water resources. This comes as more than 80 per cent of the province has reached Level 4 or 5 drought conditions – the highest possible rankings – and roughly 370 wildfires continue to burn across the province.
BC’s provincial power utility says it has set a new record for the highest peak hourly demand for August. BC Hydro says in a statement that consumption reached over 84-hundred megawatts on Monday night, with a heat wave usually adding one-thousand megawatts of power use It says that is equal to turning on one million air-conditioning units. This comes as most of southern BC is broiling in a heat wave and temperatures knock down records in some areas of the province that were set almost a century ago.
Mounties are arresting people again at the Fairy Creek watershed near Lake Cowichan on Vancouver Island. Police say three protesters refused to obey the injunction granted by a court to Teal Cedar Products in April of 2021. In addition to those arrested, police say they’ve submitted a report to the prosecution service for another person who’s alleged to have assaulted an officer and then escaped into the woods. The prosecution service dropped more than 140 charges against protesters last week after the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal of a man acquitted because Mounties read a shortened form of the court injunction.
Mounties in Chilliwack say they have found the body of a Surrey man who was thought to have drowned in Cultus Lake last month. RCMP say the discovery was made by its Underwater Recovery Team after about a month of searching. They say the man’s death remains under investigation by the coroner’s service. Police say it’s the fourth drowning death they have seen in the last month and are reminding people not to swim alone or enter water if they have consumed any drugs or alcohol.
TransLink says it is giving away mini-trolley Compass keychains today to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the trolley bus in BC. The transportation authority says Vancouver is the only city in Canada with such a service and since its first appearance in 1948, its trolley bus fleet has grown to 262 electric trolley buses. TransLink says over 18-thousand tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions is saved every year by running trolley buses rather than conventional diesel buses. It says the mementoes will be available today at the service centre in Vancouver’s TransLink Waterfront station.