 Good afternoon everybody. I'm on the territory of the Squamish Muslim and Slewa-tooth people and Thanks for joining us We expected last night to be a very challenging evening and it certainly was I'd like to start off the top by thanking our well-land firefighters. We're on the front lines Throughout the night last night. They're on the front lines right now protecting people's homes Protecting our communities and protecting the people of British Columbia. Very grateful for that Very grateful for the British Columbians who are opening their homes to evacuees who are supporting neighbors providing space for them and And making sure that they're looked after your generosity is very much appreciated. We have seen heroic efforts I spoke with some local leadership today heard harrowing stories about About last night and I want to thank all the local officials who are assisting and leading emergency response efforts on the ground in their communities as well The current situation is is grim We have 35,000 people in the province. It's a fluid situation, but about 35,000 people. We're on evacuation order right now We have about 30,000 people who are on advisory that Within a matter of hours could receive notice that they are on evacuation order as well It is so important and I want to express my gratitude to people who heard our call yesterday Not to travel if you don't have to if you're planning on visiting the Okanagan area Visiting fire affected areas as a tourist going to a hotel The fact that you stayed home. We know it's challenging We know you had plans and we're grateful for your understanding and your willingness to stay off the roads We have an urgent need for more accommodation given the numbers of people who are being evacuated and who are under advisory The situation changes very quickly given the dry conditions and the winds as a result we will be issuing a new order under the The emergency authorities the government has And this is specific to ensuring that we have accommodation available for evacuees for emergency personnel so that they have places to stay as They respond to the front line and have to evacuate their own camps and for families for seniors for others who are fleeing Fire affected communities that they have a place to stay We need to ensure this accommodation is available specifically This order will restrict travel in fire affected areas When you are traveling for the purposes of staying in temporary accommodation like a hotel a motel provincial park public campground This order says stay off the roads for tourists related Non-essential travel to stay in temporary accommodation This order again is aimed at ensuring that we have the accommodation available for people who desperately need it Who are leaving their homes who may lose their homes? For the firefighters that are working on the front line for everybody Minister Ma will follow me to provide more details about this order But we shouldn't need an order. Please just stay out of these areas if you don't have to be there If you have friends or family that are planning on traveling make sure that they're aware of the incredible sensitivity At this time in fire affected communities. I would also like to share That a further development from yesterday People are in the province are certainly aware and grateful to the RCMP for ensuring that provincial resources are deployed to fire affected areas When people leave their homes behind their belongings behind when they flee the fire affected community, they're worried about Security they're worried about what happens when they're not there And in addition evacuation often needs the assistance of police were very grateful to the RCMP for the provincial resources. They've deployed Yesterday the solicitor general authorized use of emergency provisions under our agreement with the RCMP that enables additional Municipal RCMP resources to be deployed to fire affected areas to ensure that communities are safe That people's belongings are protected when they have to evacuate and to assist with evacuation processes Overall the Minister for Public Safety will continue to take the steps necessary Communities are safe that people are safe and protected And closing I'd just like to say and encourage people to stay alert For alerts you may be asked to leave on very short notice from communities. We have Conditions changed dramatically conditions changed dramatically conditions changed dramatically. We've had to leave home Those who have had to make difficult decisions provincial government is here with you I spoke with the Prime Minister this afternoon the federal government is working with us on the resources that we need provincially And local officials are working with us as well. We're all working together We have your back and we will support you and your families British Columbians will get through this together Thank you to everybody who's working right now to protect British Columbians and our thoughts are with all of the families all of The people who have had to leave their homes right now. We will support you with that. I'll turn it over to Minister Ma Thank you so much Premier Ubi Good afternoon everyone. My name is Bowen Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Speaking to you today from the territories of the Musqueam, the Squamish and the Slavita Last night we declared a provincial state of emergency given severe and fast changing wildfire situation that we are currently facing This declaration gives the province extraordinary powers to keep people communities and first responders safe The situation is highly dynamic and the numbers are changing all of the time But as of now we are currently hovering at about 30,000 people on evacuation order and an additional 36,000 people on evacuation alert people Families firefighters and other frontline responders need a safe place to stay during this extremely challenging and difficult time And that is why as Premier Ubi has already described, we are introducing temporary restrictions in the Okanagan Under this order, we are restricting travel to several communities for anyone planning on staying in temporary accommodations This includes Kelowna, Kamloops, Oliver, Asoyus, Penticton and Vernon Let me be clear Temporary accommodation in the areas I have listed are no longer available for non-essential visits If you do not need to travel to these areas for essential reasons, we need you to change your plans This will ensure that accommodations like hotels and motels are available for evacuees and frontline responders in the Okanagan If you are currently in accommodations in these areas We are asking you to voluntarily check out early and free up those spaces for evacuees and responders I want to thank the hotel association and accommodation providers For their cooperation and collaboration with us already And I want to thank everyone who has already cancelled their plans to travel to the Okanagan. Your efforts are helping And I strongly urge everyone to avoid traveling anywhere in the southern part of me in the central interior and southeast For non-essential reasons including the Shoeswap and the Okanagan This decision was not made lightly, but it is necessary to ensure public safety This is a challenging time for everyone and my heart is with those who have had to leave their home and need And those who are getting prepared to leave if needed The province is continuing to assess the tools available to us Under the provincial state of emergency and we will not hesitate to take further action in order to keep people safe Over the past 24 hours We have been hearing stories of people offering their hearts and their homes to evacuees And this generosity and commitment to working together is a testament to the of the people of British Columbia We are all in this together and together we will get through this And before I turn it over to minister Ralston I want to extend once more my heartfelt gratitude and recognition to the immensely courageous individuals of the bc wildfire service Contractors local fire departments rcmp and all other emergency personnel Their unwavering dedication to public safety that's been exhibited not only over the last few days But throughout this entire wildfire season deserves our utmost admiration Thank you, and I'll now turn it over to minister Ralston Thanks very much minister ma and good afternoon. I'm bruce Ralston minister of forests I too am honored to be speaking to you from the judicial territory of the muskwim squamish and sleighward tooth peoples and sleighward tooth peoples Before I begin my brief comments. I want to acknowledge everyone throughout the province who is affected by the horrific wildfires impacting our The people whose homes and community fire I know the extent of the destruction is devastating and the losses are heavy Of course our top priority is always to protect people's lives and property But I also want to acknowledge the impacts To wild wild stock or livestock particularly in the crater creek area This is an uncertain time and our hearts and thoughts are with all of you But most importantly our people are with you as well Our crews and partners are doing everything they can to keep people safe Our experts at the bc wildfire service continue to watch the weather very closely We expect that today will be another challenging day, but we are prepared There are currently 380 wildfires burning across british colombia 15 of those are wildfires of note There are approximately 400 personnel directly engaged in wildfire responses across the province We are grateful to have international firefighters from australia, mexico, brazil and costa rica As well as incoming firefighters from mexico, ontario and eastern canada These folks are in addition to the thousands of local contractors already engaged in the firefighting effort I also want to express my sincere thanks to the many municipal fire departments from around british colombia Who have come to support our efforts? There are too many too many to name individually, but I want to express my gratitude on behalf of the province Again, I want to acknowledge that this has been a long and difficult wildfire season It is immensely stressful living day to day with smoke Or near a fire or being on an evacuation alert or order On behalf of all british colombians, thank you to firefighters first responders and emergency management teams who are working Through the night to prepare and respond to these challenges I want to assure british colombians that we are working hard to ensure communities are prepared And have the supports they need I mentioned this yesterday and I know that police have echoed the same concerns Drones are a significant hazard to our aircrews fighting fires Kelowna area rcmp have said this continues to be an issue unfortunately Now is not the time to be taking footage or photographs of active wildfires Not only is it irresponsible, but it is illegal to fly them in fire areas Likewise, this is not the time to be boating on lakes where air tankers are landing to use the lake to refill Keep boats away from areas where other planes and helicopters are operating Lastly, I want to thank all british colombians who remain diligent and aware in the midst of a very challenging wildfire situation Our thoughts are with all of you who've been affected We will support you through the worst of this And we'll continue to support you as we look forward towards recovery I'd now like to turn it over to cliff chaplain. Thank you cliff Thank you very much minister ralston minister ma and premier eb I'm honored to join today from the traditional territory of to come loops disequipment I'm at our provincial wildfire coordination center in camloops bc And I'm going to provide a run through of fires as I did yesterday with an associated slide deck Before I get into the fire rundown, which will be slightly briefer than yesterday as we have Adams lake complex and the mcdougal fire Information officers on the line who can take questions after the briefing today So I won't spend as much time as I did yesterday I also want to Offer my condolences and with the impacts of fires in particular yesterday in the shoe swap area the Adams lake area And I want to thank all the residents there who adhered to the evacuation orders the fire in that area yesterday was extremely aggressive As we had to make the decision to call the evacuation order and get everybody out safely I want to thank everybody for doing that in a kind and deliberate way To make sure that everyone could get to safety I also want to issue and offer my thanks to the thousands of responders who are Continually showing up day in and day night day in and every night to try to protect the communities in bc As minister ralston said we have seen a significant support effort from municipal fire departments from across bc And we continue to see more stepping up every day To support the shoe swap kalona and any other fire that we may see Also would like to thank first nation communities for your continued support of giving Crew resources and single resources to support incidents and your local eocs And that also goes to local governments and contracted resources We can't do it without you and we really appreciate the support as we continue to go through this challenging season I'm just going to pull up the brief slide deck to go through And I will just look for confirmation when It can be seen And I see a thumbs up. Thank you So we will continue to see extreme fire behavior In the southern half of the province We had over the last 48 hours We have seen some of the worst conditions that this province has ever faced As it pertains to wildfires on the land base and obviously we have seen the devastating impacts of that fire behavior Whether it be west kalona kalona the shoe swap and many other communities over the last 48 hours who have been Feeling the anxiety and stress of fires the picture you see here is of kukipi creek fire Which is in the coastal fire center and you can see just how aggressive that fire behavior is As this fire was taken yesterday in the early afternoon I'm just going to do a run through Starting at adams lake moving to mcdougal and then we'll talk about a few of the other fires here today I'll leave I'll try to leave the slides up so you can read Sort of the update of what's occurring as I just briefly speak to the map itself So what you see in the map is the adams lake complex Which has two fires which essentially are now one fire that have combined But we're still see it as two fires one on one is east adams lake Uh, and the other one is bush creek as you can see by the red dots on the map, which is Essentially the the growth from yesterday. You can see that this fire made a significant run Uh towards the shoe swap the northern end of the shoe swap as well as towards highway one Uh, serento and chase It did cross highway one, which we briefly closed, uh, or which we closed yesterday evening And we issued a large or we recommended a large scale evacuation order for multiple communities in the area This fire made a run yesterday in under 12 hours of over 20 kilometers That is a significant fire run for this province and it was extremely challenging Conditions to try to get people out and I'm thankful that we were able to do that We will continue to reassess on this fire our our incident management team has been out Making a reassessment with the growth from yesterday Uh, we will we have developed a new plan. We continue to have structure protection and aviation resources Working to protect structures in the area as we have seen there have been impacts There have been impacts to structures in the area of north shoe swap As well as in other areas of this fire Uh, sorry as I move on to mcdougal. I'll just quickly say, uh for the evacuation people who are on evacuation order Again, I just want to reiterate. Please do not head towards the shoe swap or anywhere in that area As I believe minister ma covered quite well with the new order coming into place The next fire I want to talk about quickly is the mcdougal fire in west kalona As well as the fire that's across the lake in kalona proper The mcdougal fire last night. I am pleased to report. Uh, as of this morning There were no new confirmed structure losses on that fire Again, we have a significant municipal fire department workforce in combination with our bc wildfire service staff and incident management team running a unified command on this area Working together to protect the homes in those in in kalona as well as in west kalona And working to stop the spread of this wildfire You could see by the red dots that we did see growth in the last 24 hours However, as I stated and I want to state again because it was thanks to hard work from so many individuals on the ground We do not have any confirmed additional structure losses from last night And we did have to deal with wind, uh throughout the night So it was really thanks to the hard work of the people on the ground Uh, moving into the phraser canyon now This is the kukipi creek fire in the phraser canyon, uh as I stated yesterday This fire came out of the nahat latch valley into the phraser canyon Two nights ago, uh, we didn't see significant growth on this fire yesterday, which is a really good thing The highway remains closed and impacted. We are working with the rail companies On this fire to try to have allow intermittent rail traffic to continue with the supply chain when it is safe to do so This fire today has the potential to see some growth to the north And our our crews and our team that's in place there is working with the resources they can to try to secure The north edge of this fire But again, the conditions are extremely challenging in that canyon and and people who know that valley know that the winds are Usually quite a bit stronger in that valley than anywhere else in bc As we look at the bender complex, which is just north of the kukipi creek fire It's comprised of three fires. We did see significant growth on the downton lake fire near gun lake You can see in the upper map here the red dots Looking as if that fire has potentially doubled in size Extreme fire behavior observed on this fire in the last 24 hours and we expect today to see additional fire behavior I think the positive on this fire as well as the stein fire is that up until this point We have somewhat been able to manage keeping it out of the phraser valley or the phraser canyon Which obviously allows it not to be hit by those winds. I spoke about on the kukipi creek fire A new fire that wasn't on the wasn't on briefing yesterday is the upper park real creek fire This fire is estimated at just under 1100 hectares in size As you can see on the map and if you can't see it, I'll let you know This is okanagan falls is in your bottom right of the map and oliver is in your bottom left So it just gives you some orientation where this fire is We are seeing some success with heavy equipment and working on guards to try to box this fire in and hopefully have success with our suppression efforts and then crater creek Which is in the ashenola at the bottom or far south of the countless fire center and the border of the united states of america Significant fire behavior to the south on this fire yesterday afternoon and into the evening As you can see by the red dots on this map the fire has pushed into the united states Which we're working with our counterparts in The us to ensure that we have a coordinated response to both the canadian side and the us side of this very large fire As you can see this fire is now estimated at 37 000 hectares and we are anticipating that it will continue to grow So with that i'll i'll Throw it back to minister ma and we look forward to hearing your questions Thank you Thank you so much cliff. We are now available to take questions in addition to myself premier eb minister ralston and cliff staff Available to answer questions also include brendan ralph's director of regional operations with the ministry of emergency management and climate readiness nicole bonnet fire information officer for the mcdougal creek wildfire and force tower fire information officer for lower east adams lake wildfire Our reminder to media on the line, please press star one to enter the queue You're limited to one question and one follow-up and please come off mute and speak your phone So that we can hear you properly in the room first question on the phone is from richard zeussman global news Premier this will be for you or for minister ma How do you believe this order is to work here? Will there be Police going to hotels and checking if people are checking in what are the logistics here in terms of people that are already in hotels and what They are supposed to do in the situation And for cliff, I'm just trying to get a sense. I know you went through the regions the impact in the north shoe swap right now There are reports people are still stranded in dangerous areas What's being done to help them and how concerned are you about that situation? Thanks richard, uh, this uh, this order is specifically to discourage people to tell them don't do it Discourse people from traveling to the okanagan to stay in hotels motels campsites And the goal of it is to free up accommodation if you're already in a hotel The order does not affect you, but we're really encouraging people who are in hotels who are in motels To talk to the operator and to go home early When you check out early, you're freeing up a hotel room for someone that is fleeing a wildfire You're freeing up a hotel room for a firefighter that is battling Forest fires in the area Those rooms as they come available are being snapped up by Emergency services personnel from the province of bc to make them available for evacuees and for first responders So we need all the accommodation we can get The order itself is meant to really communicate very clearly This is not the time to be traveling to the okanagan for tourism This is not the time to be traveling for anything other than an essential purpose And and I think people understand that But the order is really meant to underline it And I'll turn it over to cliff for your second part of your question Thank you very much, richard. Uh, I just want to start by stressing and I stress this yesterday as well Uh, the conditions that we are experiencing in bc right now If you are placed on evacuation order, please leave, please leave in an orderly in an orderly manner If you're put on evacuation alert, please be ready to leave at a moment's notice and when that notice is given Please leave the area in in the way that you're directed to by your local government We have had some experiences in the last couple of days with uh people who have not adhered to evacuation orders I'm I'm pleading with those individuals and anyone else who may be put on evacuation order in the coming days Please listen to your local or first nation government's recommendations When they put an order in place and if you're put on alert, please prepare your your go bag and be ready to go And please check on on your neighbors when you're put on evacuation alert to ensure that they have the Necessary things to get out as well For specifics on the north shush walk, which as I stated, uh, did see quite a bit of impact last night From a structure perspective, I I will throw to forest tower who is our communications officer with our incident management team on the adam's lake complex Thanks, cliff. Yeah, so currently our incident management team the Operation section and all other sections are working in very close coordination With other local response agencies and local governments We're currently working on gaining access in two areas that are under order that did have better impact On these products angle mont road. So Right now there are people that have remained in those communities We again are stressing the critical importance of leaving when placed on an order We do try and ensure that there is enough time For people to leave before there is fire impact and after there is fire impact It puts a lot of undue stress and work needed for our local response individuals to Work with those individuals that choose to stay behind So we are working to gain access and and we'll make every effort both for people that are in community As well to get people back into their homes as soon as possible for those that did leave It's a large-scale response right now. And I do want to thank all the other support agencies It was a very harrowing night for structural fire departments search and rescue all others that were on site I hope this remains one of the most challenging nights and and they don't have to go through this again But we do have a number of days of more extreme fire behavior potential So I just really encourage people in this you swap area to pay attention to those orders as as they may come through as We go through this week Richard, do you have a follow-up? I know the main priority now are fighting these fires protecting infrastructure protecting life But we're also seeing obviously a huge amount of smoke in this area in Kelowna and across the province. Are there any concerns about health impacts for people in metro vancouver Southern vancouver island and so many other parts of bc Due to this intense smoke that we are feeling and and what is the advice to the public Dealing with us throughout Paris, Colombia Heavy smoke in the atmosphere in the air can have severe health impacts, particularly On people who are vulnerable If you are in an area that is experiencing heavy smoke The advice is to stay indoors and avoid outside outdoor activity avoid exercising outdoors If you are able to set up a HEPA filter in your home to Clean out the air that is definitely advisable. We're an n95 mask when you're walking outside We'll also work with communities to set up clean air spaces. So for instance Community centers or libraries with good hVAC systems We often work with communities to keep them open as cooling centers when it's very hot as warming centers when it's very cold We will also do that for smoke And and poor air quality as well. We do need people to check in on one another Particularly those who are vulnerable in your lives make sure that they're doing okay It can be there can be significant health impacts as a result of heavy smoke do take care It is a concern. Absolutely. And we're seeing it not just here in British Columbia, but What we've seen it all over the world where wildfire impacts have been have been heavy Our next question is from Keith Baldry global news Oh, hi there In terms of people traveling up there. We've picked up some good anecdotal information people but not just staying in hotels. It's actually driving up Sort of wildfire tourism going up to see the fires and parking and perhaps blocking roads and And routes and such are there any reports or concerns about that people actually traveling up there just to watch the fire activity We are asking everyone to stay clear of traveling to the central interior and southeast for non-essential reasons including the shoe shop and Kelowna and a non-essential reason absolutely includes Firesighting or I don't know if that's actually a real term. But basically going up there to watch the fires What we absolutely cannot have on our roads is people Blocking roads to take photographs getting out of their cars visiting communities where there's high wildfire activity getting in the In the way of crews We can't see boats on waters that are being used by firefighting equipment to skim water to fight fires We cannot see drones in the air where there's wild firefighting equipment happening Having drones in the air can ground our aircraft during absolutely critical moments of their firefighting Firefighting cycles it this cannot happen We need people to do the right thing and stay out of those areas and give fire crews the space they need To to fight those fires and respond to the hazards at hand. I don't know Mr. Wilson would you like to add or cliff if you have anything else to say about your experiences there This is certainly something that we have experienced in particular in the last 48 hours with the impacts to such populated areas in west Kelowna Kelowna and now the shoe shop And as you said minister ma it is with I think with all the gravity I can put behind it Please do not come into areas that are affected by wildfire We need that space. We need the airspace. We need the roadways That is how our first responders get around that is how we work to suppress the fires and how we work to try to protect people's homes a follow-up Yeah, two wrong question Is there a ballpark estimate how many people are actually ignoring evacuation orders? And what sanctions or penalties could they face if they if they do this under the emergency? declaration of emergency and also Different topic. Are there any reports of wildlife being displaced and moving into urban areas? Which may be potentially be a danger to themselves and to residents there because of the huge fires displaced in them I'll start off and probably offer it up to to cliff to to tack on there But I'll start with the second question Which is that we've actually already seen wildlife entering into urban areas not only for wildfire Because of wildfire impacts, but also because of drought We're seeing enormous Remember, we're still in a severe drought situation right across the province A lot of food sources that are naturally available to wildlife are not there and they're venturing deeper into urban areas In order to to look for food and absolutely wildfires will also have that impact of of moving wildlife around in terms of Once again on on ignoring evacuation orders We cannot stress strongly enough how critical it is to follow evacuation orders when they are issued We do not issue these orders lightly They are a matter of life and death not only for the people in those properties But also for the first responders who will often go back to try to implore people to leave the greatest consequence of ignoring an evacuation order Is the loss of life and it might not be the loss of life of the person Who lives in the residence? It could be the loss of life of a first responder who is trying to help them and who is trying to help Put out the fire and and keep the community safe Cliff if you have anything else dad welcome you minister ma and and I I think you nailed it with the the biggest consequence Um, I just I think I'll just restate what happened within the shoe swap. Uh, the Adams Lake complex fire yesterday With over a 20 kilometer run BC wildfire service and all the supporting agencies that are working with bc wildfire We had to pull back on that fire because of fire behavior and because of aggressive the aggressive nature of the growth We may not be able to come back if you're in an evacuation order And so as much as we will attempt to when the conditions allow it I I just think it's important to stress that we may not be able to Yesterday would have been one of those examples in parts of the shoe swap Parts of that Adams Lake complex. So again, I just stress please For everyone in bc if you are placed on order, please leave your residence That concludes the availability