B.C. wildfires: Emotions run high as fires threaten towns [Video]

As the province enters the heart of wildfire season, British Columbia communities threatened by flames are under extreme stress and facing a range of emotions with the uncertainty of whether they’ll have to flee their homes, and whether they’ll have anything to come back to.

When a surprise fire broke out on the outskirts of Williams Lake, damaging an industrial building, municipal fire crews and provincial wildfire teams raced to the scene of what has been named the River Valley fire. It’s holding steady at 40 hectares, but still classified as out of control.

Mayor Surinderpal Rathor found it hard to describe what he felt watching the aircraft dropping round after round of rust-red fire retardant on buildings a stone’s throw from homes as Mounties undertook tactical evacuations late Sunday afternoon.

“It’s hard to explain, my friend, what was going through mind,” he said in a virtual interview with CTV …