Native Hawaiians fear Maui wildfire destruction will lead to their cultural erasure

By Jackie McKay, CBC News, Aug 17, 2023

Keʻeaumoku Kapu has been handing out water, clothes, and emergency supplies to families in need out of the Walgreens parking lot in Lahaina, Maui. He said it is a way to keep himself occupied while he grieves the losses of his community. 

“I’m afraid we’re not going to recover from this,” said Kapu, speaking to CBC from his cellphone at the distribution centre Monday. 

Kapu is a Kanaka Maoli (a Hawaiian word for their Indigenous people) community leader in Lahaina, and head of the Nā ʻAikāne o Maui Cultural Center — which was destroyed by the fire that ripped through Lahaina. 

First Nation evacuees spend another ‘frustrating’ night waiting on flights out of forest fire zone

The second of two Hercules aircraft arrives in Garden Hill First Nation Thursday morning to fly forest fire evacuees to southern Manitoba. (Sean Kavanagh/CBC)

Nearly 3,000 evacuees in northern part of province wait to be airlifted to southern Manitoba

By Bryce Hoye, CBC News, August 31, 2017

Hundreds of evacuees from a northern First Nation in Manitoba spent another night sleeping on an airport floor and in a school gymnasium waiting for flights south, as a fire nearly twice the size of Winnipeg rages nearby.

Forget Smokey the Bear: How First Nation fire wisdom is key to megafire prevention

Annie Kruger was the last firekeeper appointed by her people, say family. Her granddaughter is in training to take over, but has more to learn yet, and the tradition tapered off with Kruger’s death. (Don Gayton)

Fire prevention policies of the past have created conditions for today’s out-of-control blazes, experts say

By Yvette Brend, CBC News, July 15, 2017

The grandchildren of Annie Kruger remember her lighting an Export A Green cigarette, throwing on her logger’s jacket and heading out to set fires near Penticton, B.C.

Before she died she was a firekeeper — as were generations before her in the Okanagan region of the province — and it was her job to use flames to purify the land by setting fire to berry bushes, hillsides and even mountains to renew growth and clear brush and create natural fireguards.

‘We’re not leaving’: Tempers flare between First Nation, RCMP amid wildfire evacuation order

Chief Joe Alphons of the Tl’etinqox First Nation said 300 people from his community have stayed behind, choosing not to obey an evacuation order for the area. (CBC)

‘Community stress levels were really high … I kind of lost it a little bit,’ chief says

By Rhianna Schmunk, CBC News,  July 11, 2017

A B.C. First Nations chief says emotions ran high between himself and the RCMP when he told officers residents wouldn’t be obeying an evacuation order as several wildfires threaten the community.

Bug Out Bag System

A forest fire burns near Kelowna, BC, 2013.

by Sakej Ward, July 9, 2017
Considering the wild fires in BC and the provincial state of emergency, I know their is a lot of our people wondering how to prepare for such an emergency. I want to help out, a little bit, by providing a packing list for a Bug Out Bag System, think of it as a evacuation bag list. If you are in a threatened area and may have to face the threat of a wild fire start to prepare now.  Hope is not a strategy!

B.C. is burning: 10,000 people displaced in hot, dry conditions

Nevaeh Porter, 8, is comforted by her grandmother Angie Thorne as they view the remains of their home that was destroyed by wildfire on the Ashcroft First Nation, near Ashcroft, B.C., late Sunday. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Evacuation orders issued in many communities, $100 million relief fund set up

By Roshini Nair, CBC News, July 10, 2017

Wide swaths of forests in British Columbia’s Interior are burning after a lightning storm Friday afternoon ignited brush parched from weeks of relentless hot, dry weather.

B.C. wildfire evacuees say they are in shock

A wildfire burns on a mountain near Ashcroft, B.C., late Friday July 7, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

By Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press, July 8, 2017

A seasoned British Columbia firefighter says he’s never seen anything like the fast-moving wildfire that tore through his new home, leaving him and his neighbours scant seconds to escape.

Wilfred Duncan moved into his friend’s house on the Ashcroft Indian Reserve two weeks ago, only to watch the home burn down after the wildfire overwhelmed the community, destroying more than 30 buildings.

Fort McMurray fire destroys oilsands camp, forces evacuation of thousands of workers as blaze continues to grow

This photo of Blacksand Executive Lodge was taken by a CBC News contact around 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. (Name withheld by request)

by Geoffrey Morgan, Financial Post, May 17, 2016

CALGARY – The out-of-control wildfires in northern Alberta have forced a new wave of evacuations, by ground and by air, and delayed plans to restart oilsands productions at some projects, dealing another setback to the already hard-hit sector.

Suncor Energy Inc. spokesperson Sneh Seetal confirmed the company had begun airlifting employees to safety Tuesday after the fire had changed course Monday night, moved northward and forced the evacuation of its facilities and surrounding camps.

Fires costing oilsands sector $70 million a day in lost revenue

Geoffrey Morgan, Financial Post, May 8, 2016

CALGARY —  As oilsands companies scramble to determine when they can start producing oil again in fire-ravaged northern Alberta, the industry is estimated to be losing $70 million every day that production is off line.

“There are a lot of fixed costs that don’t go away by just shutting in your production,” ARC Financial vice-president of energy research Jackie Forrest  said, pointing to employee salaries, and in some cases pre-paid diluent costs and fixed pipeline costs.

Fort Mac Blaze: Brace for New Era of Infernos

Homes and cars burned in Fort McMurray, May 2016. Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images

What’s turning northern forests into tinder? Biggest reason is climate change, but that’s not all.

A sudden shift in the wind at a critical time of day was all it took to send a wildfire out of control through Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 people out of their homes in what has become the biggest natural disaster in Canadian history.

Earlier this week, Darby Allen, the regional fire chief for the area, minced no words when he was asked what might happen now that more than 1,600 homes have been destroyed.