14,000 people evacuated in British Columbia Wildfire, Williams Lake under high alert

Williams Lake is the largest city in the Central Interior of British Columbia which is under a high alert, following the evacuation.

The disaster struck after lightening storm spread the fire rapidly in the Interior of B.C. An emergency was called immediately after the wildfire.

Bob Turner from Emergency Management B.C. told media that firefighters are working with fullest resources to control the situation.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale, extended the support from the government to tackle the ongoing situation of wildfire in B.C.

In a statement issued on July 9, the minister said: "On behalf of the Federal Government, the Minister of National Defence, the Honourable Harjit Sajjan, and I have accepted a request for federal assistance in dealing with the wildfire situation from my provincial counterpart, Todd Stone, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure and Minister responsible for Emergency Management BC."

"The Government Operations Centre is working diligently to coordinate the federal response to ensure that help is provided as soon as possible, and will continue to monitor and assess the wildfire situation as it evolves," Goodale added.

"Our officials are working closely with federal and provincial partners on planning the details of this assistance, including support from Canadian Armed Forces" he said.

B.C. Wildfire Service on Twitter confirmed the arrival of out of service personnel to join them in tackling the situation of the wildfire, couple of days back.

"Out-of-province firefighting personnel have started to arrive in #BC to assist with our #BCwildfire situation" B.C. Wildfire Service tweeted.

Reports suggested that the situation in the city is expected to get worsened with the deterioration of the weather conditions and particularly winds.

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)

Image: Official site of Public Safety Canada (Government of Canada).