Canada Lytton: Heatwave record village overwhelmingly burned in wildfire

A wildfire has burned 90% of the village that recorded Canada’s highest ever temperature, the local MP says.

Brad Vis said the fire had caused extensive damage to Lytton, in British Columbia, and to surrounding critical infrastructure.

Jan Polderman, mayor of Lytton, told the BBC he had been “lucky to get out with my own life”.

“There won’t be very much left of Lytton,” he said. “There was fire everywhere.”

Mr Polderman told the BBC’s Newshour programme his town was engulfed by a “wall of fire”.

Experts say that climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves. However, linking any single event to global warming is complicated.

Lytton this week recorded the country’s highest ever temperature of 49.6C (121.3F).

And abnormally high temperatures have been recorded in swathes of North America.

British Columbia, in western Canada, recorded 486 deaths over five days compared with an average of 165 in normal times.

Source: Fiilafmonline/BBC