Canada wildfires: Border town evacuated as blazes cross into US
Thousands of people have been ordered to leave a Canadian border town due to an “out-of-control” wildfire.
The fire, known as Eagle Bluff, has triggered evacuation orders in Osoyoos, British Colombia, with officials estimating it is around 2,200 acres (3.44 square miles) in size on the Canadian side of the border.
It is believed to be around 2,000 acres (3.13 square miles) big on the US side of the border in Washington state.
“There are Initial Attack crew personnel, several single resources, two helicopters, structure protection personnel and
heavy equipment responding to the incident” in Osoyoos, the British Colombia Wildfire Service said.
“A total of 732 properties have been under evacuation order and 2,094 are under evacuation alerts. 132 people have sought emergency support,” regional district information officer Erick Thompson told a news briefing.
Around 6,700 people live in the evacuated town.
Temperatures in the town are expected to hit 33C (91F), with the average high for July around 30C (86F).
It comes after The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced a 25-year-old firefighter died battling the fires in the north-east of British Colombia.
The RCMP said he was working in a remote area when his quad bike rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road on Friday.
Eagle Bluff is the latest wildfire in the region, with officials saying more than 1,500 blazes have scorched British Colombia so far in 2023 – with more than 360 over the weekend alone, and 191 classed as “out-of-control”.
Map of the fires burning across British Colombia – with out-of-control fires marked with a red flame. Pic: BC Wildfire Service
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There is a smattering of “out-of-control” fires across British Colombia, which are characterised as “a wildfire that is continuing to spread and is not responding to suppression efforts.”
Earlier in the year, smoke from other wildfires across Canada blew across New York, shrouding the city and causing breathing problems.
In Europe, fires last week burned across Greek islands and northern Africa, forcing dramatic evacuations from holiday resorts.
Rhodes bore the brunt of the flames, with many towns on the south of the island remaining damaged or inaccessible.
Experts say the increasing number of wildfires across the world are a direct result of climate change.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
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