Blazes are destroying whole communities. The Canadian government must act now to tackle this existential threat
Small fires crackle into life on the hills around us at the slightest provocation. Creeks swell with flash floods, as upland snow melts at record speed. Our town’s beloved colony of great blue herons fall stunned out of the trees in their dozens. Animals, from cougars to rattlesnakes, leave their hidden places to seek water. The temperature has risen, and stalled, at a nearly unbearable 45C.
This is what a heat dome feels like in Vernon, a community in the British Columbian interior in Canada.