Wildfires are spreading rapidly across the Canadian province of British Columbia, prompting the local government to declare a state of emergency on August 8. More than 20,000 residents received emergency evacuation orders around midnight and were forced to flee their homes overnight. Of particular concern is the fact that the fires have spawned pyrocumulonimbus clouds that generated lightning strikes without rain, igniting secondary fires in a phenomenon known as firestorms. These have made the trajectory of the blazes unpredictable. Over 2,000 personnel have been deployed, but the fires remain out of control. A CGTN Stringer documented the wildfire's impact from the scene.