Ruminations: Killing Heat Waves, Electrical Wildfires : Western Canada

"[The number of deaths recorded since Friday -- 486 sudden deaths -- is] unprecedented [in the province; officials will be reviewing what happened in the hopes of preventing such a tragic outcome in future heat waves]."

"On the coast, we're not used to the extreme weather events. There are many things, I think, that many of us can learn in terms of response, in terms of informing the public about the risk."
"Please arrange regular check-ins with those who live alone, and encourage everyone you know to drink water, stay in the shade as much as possible and visit cooler environments whenever they can."
"The Coroners Service would normally receive approximately 130 reports of death over a four-day period. From Friday, June 25 through 3 p.m. on Monday, June 28, at least 233 deaths were reported. This number will increase as data continues to be updated."
Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe, British Columbia

"The reality is we've never seen anything like this in B.C., and in fact the country, but especially in the Lower Mainland."

"After we are past this, we will have to take a hard look at what we need to change for the future."
B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth

"[Police received a flurry of calls Tuesday morning] as people are showing up in their parents’ house or relatives’ house and finding them deceased."
"It’s changing [numbers of calls coming in to police] as people are discovering their loved-ones dead. [Police usually respond to three or four sudden deaths on a typical day]."
"We have more reports that have been made to us that we have not been able to send officers to because they are currently at other scenes waiting for the coroner to take over the investigation."

"I’ve been a police officer for 15 years and I’ve never experienced the volume of sudden deaths that have come in in such a short period of time. This has been an extreme sudden spike in sudden deaths throughout the city all over the city."
Sgt.Steve Addison, Vancouver Police Department

"This was an unprecedented heat wave, with records being broken day after day. The public was acutely aware that we had a heat problem. And we were doing our best to break through all the other noise to encourage people to take steps to protect themselves. But it was apparent to anybody who walked outdoors that we were in an unprecedented heat wave and again there’s a level of personal responsibility."

"This is a tragedy upon a whole host of others we’ve had to address over a number of months but I believe we did what we could to get the information out and we rely also on the public press and media outlets who’ve done a really good job in my mind, of making the case, telling people to be wary and we have our internet presence and social media doing that as well."
British Columbia Premier John Horgan

A view of the city after the scorching weather triggered an Air Quality Advisory in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada June 28, 2021. Photo by JENNIFER GAUTHIER /REUTERS

The sweltering heat wave settling over Western Canada is widely viewed as being responsible as a contributing factor to the majority of hundreds of sudden-death calls to the RCMP since Monday in the greater Vancouver area, where Burnaby residents were treated to extremely high temperatures. The spike in calls to police has been astonishing in sheer numbers, while the deaths remain under investigation.

Temperatures in the Vancouver area reached just under 32C Monday but according to Environment Canada, the high humidity accompanying the heat made it actually feel close to 40C in those areas furthest from the water in the coastal city. Residents were urgently requested by authorities to check on members of their family, and their neighbours, particularly those in the older age bracket.

"We are seeing this weather can be deadly for vulnerable members of our community, especially the elderly and those with underlying health issues", said Cpl.Mike Kalanj of the RCMP, of the countless calls being received of sudden deaths. No fewer than 103 heat records across British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories were broken in the historic weather system.

A new Canadian high temperature of 47.9C was set in Lytton, B.C. leaving the previous record of 46.6 from the same village a day earlier, in the dust. In the Alberta communities of Jasper, Grande Prairie and Hendrickson Creek, temperature records continue to be broken as the mercury spiralled upward to the mid- to high-30s.

The Nahanni Bute region of N.W.T. went up to 38.1 C, the highest temperature ever recorded in the territory, Environment Canada reported. Four heat warnings have also been issued for regions along Manitoba's western boundary with forecasters warning of extreme conditions persisting across the Prairies for the remainder of the week and perhaps into next week.

A wildfire burns in the mountains north of Lytton, B.C., on Thursday, July 1, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

As the extreme heat recedes, another potential emergency rises. Even as temperatures are expected to slide back to more seasonal values, the chance of lightning has been enhanced inside the parched southern Interior; the very same area where evacuation alerts were issued as a wildfire grew close to two square kilometres on Monday. Sixty-two wildfires and 29,000 lightning strikes have now been reported in just 24 hours.