FREE FROM THE SMOKE

With thanks to Sue Careless writing for the LIVIGN CHURCH

Although it is still early in the wildfire season, nearly 46,000 Canadians have been displaced from communities across the central interior of British Columbia. Almost 20,000 more are on evacuation alert. Anglicans in Canada have offered shelter and donations to those in need.

On July 8 the province declared a state of emergency that could last for weeks as more than 160 aggressive wildfires are raging, including 15 that officials say pose “very real threats” to communities.

Most of the communities that have been evacuated or that are on evacuation alert are in the Territory of the People, the new name for what was formerly known as the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior. The Rt. Rev. Barbara Andrews estimates that 1,000 residents affected by the fires and smoke are Anglicans.

“Every community within the Central Interior … has a fire near their community,” she said. And residents are stressed in the cattle-ranching region as they try to move their families and their livestock out of harm’s way.

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