‘Trees Going Up Like Roman Candles’ as Fire Season Starts Early in BC, Alberta

Helicopters fly past the Tremont Creek wildfire as it burns on the mountains above Ashcroft, B.C., on July 16, 2021. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Susanne Langan first noticed the Burgess Creek wildfire from the mine where she works in British Columbia’s Cariboo region as a distant, thin column of smoke.

But as winds picked up at her home on April 20 night, the flames became more aggressive.