Your World Tonight - B.C. wildfire evacuations, earthquake in Colombia, fake pilot scam, and more

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

Devastating wildfires in BC’s interior force thousands from their homes. Many are waiting to learn if their homes are intact, while others are learning they have to start over.Also: A state of national disaster in Colombia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. More than 100 people are dead and others are trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings.And: He spent years posting pictures online — jetting around the world living the high life. It seemed too good to be true — and it was. A former Canadian flight attendant has now admitted to posing as a pilot to get hundreds of free flights around the world.Plus: Canada-U.S. negotiations, Tupac trial starts, fire mitigation techniques are Canadian first, and more.

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It's scary knowing that all it takes is a little bit of wind and there'll be thousands of homes lost. Explosive growth. A massive wildfire in British Columbia is interior grows even bigger, as officials confirm at least one death. Many of the thousands of evacuees are waiting to learn if their homes are intact, while others are learning they have to start over. This is Your World Tonight. It's Monday, August 10th, just before 6 p.m. Eastern. I'm Colin Butler, also on the podcast. Powerful earthquake. Colombian officials confirm more than 100

people are dead and declare a state of natural disaster, as desperate searches are underway to find those trapped under the rubble. Devastating wildfires and BC's interior have forced tens of thousands out of their homes and have left at least one person dead. The entire community of Summerland had to evacuate this weekend and remains largely in limbo. Jessica Chung is in Penticton with the latest. Burn completely to the ground. There's nothing left.

Craig Milton says he lost everything. The Bald Range fire ripped through his property, destroying his animal sanctuary. office and beloved music venue. We host concerts for artists from across the country, lots of local in BC, Western artists. It's all gone now. And he's not the only one. But by far, this is the toughest one to lose everything. Brian Callow says all that's left of his farm is a metal skeleton.

He operates what the fungus, a mushroom farm on Garnet Valley Road. You know, I dedicated my whole life to this. Yeah, it's tough. It's unimaginable what you go through and how you deal with it. And I'm not really sure what's next. The Bald Range fire, which sparked and forced evacuations on Friday, grew again last night. It now burns at around 156 square kilometers. The 12,000 residents of Summerland remain out of their homes,

plus thousands more from the surrounding area. An 80-year-old woman died while fleeing the fire. In Pinticton, evacuees are still lining up to get shelter and food. People have set up tents and RVs in nearby parking lots. It's scary knowing that all it takes is a little bit of wind and there'll be thousands of homes lost. You know, it's still very stressful. Over the years, you accumulate things that you love, but we're alive, so that's all that matters. I'm old enough that nothing really matters in the end, you know, as long as we're okay.

Meanwhile, other fires around the province have slowed. Evacuation orders have been downgraded for the Bradley Creek wildfire in the Okinawagon and the Pear Lake fire near Clinton. But in Summerland, it's still all hands on deck. Fire's still very active. Graham Statt is the chief administrative officer for the District of Summerland. He warns evacuees against Trump. trying to get into the evacuated area to check on their properties.

We understand the desire of the public to get in there. Right now, we don't have permission to get anybody in there, except for very few. And we've developed a process for temporary access, triage to the highest priority elements. And in the forecast, the possibility of thunderstorms in Kamloops is keeping crews on edge. While everyone is hoping for precipitation,

the danger is lightning could mean more fire starts. Jessica Chung, CBC News, Penticton. A state of national disaster has been declared in Colombia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake killed more than 100 people and left many others trapped under the debris of collapsed buildings. The Colombian Geological Service says this is the strongest quake the country has experienced in the last decade. Karen Pauls.

as the latest. People gasp as part of the iconic neo-Gothic cathedral collapses onto the main area of the church in Manisales, a city about 300 kilometers west of Bogota. Screams as an apartment buckles into the street. The quake so strong it was hard for some to stay upright as they fled. In Cali, a city of about 2 million, verified video shows people running from a hospital

as part of it crumbles onto ambulances parked below. Callie Mayor, Alejandro A. Dere, says there are at least 20 structures badly damaged with people trapped inside. He's urging people to leave buildings if they see large cracks or other evidence of structural damage. The quake forced people to evacuate as far away as the capital, Bogota. People in pajamas. stepping over debris and rubble onto the streets as alarms sounded. Ivan Armando Perez is a Venezuelan engineer living in Bogota.

We felt a bit scared when it started shaking, he says. It wasn't that strong, but it went on for a long time. Claudus Gonzalez is an analyst with the International Crisis Group. She also felt the earthquake in Bogota. But this certainly adds to or raises a concern about the aftermath and the implications that it will have in these areas in terms of reconstruction and attention to victims and people that lost their property. Earthquakes are common in this region of Colombia. It lies along what's known as the Ring of Fire, the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur. But quakes above magnitude 6 are rare.

This one comes just two months after devastating twin quakes struck Venezuela in June, killing more than 6,000 people. Yes, 7.4 is people know a massive earthquake. Susan Howe is a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. The fact that it's 100 kilometers down puts the energy away from people live. So this earthquake, we don't expect it to have been as severe as the Venezuela earthquake, for example. which was more shallow. But it is still quite large. Compatriotas, in this moment,

me dirijo to Bogota. Columbia's new president, Abelardo de la Esprejea, was just inaugurated on Friday. He says he's convened an emergency committee and he'll personally oversee the recovery efforts. You're not alone, he said, in a social media post. There have already been several aftershocks

with airports in the region damaged and flights cancelled, it will take days for a full sense of the devastation. Karen Paul's, CBC News, Winnipeg. Coming right up, trade negotiations and sectorial support. Canadian officials ramp up talks in Washington and announce efforts to lessen the blow from tariffs. Plus, fraudulent flight. A Toronto man pleads guilty to fraud after pretending to be a pilot to enjoy a jet-setting lifestyle. And later, we'll have this story.

From AI-powered cameras to fire starting drones, the fight against BC's devastating wildfires is getting a tech boost on the front lines. They can honestly say that this technology will save a life one day. Devices years in the making are being put through the paces on the fires burning right now. It's not every day that you get to see something that can help you in the future. I'm Tanu Fletcher in Vancouver. I'll have that story later on your world tonight. A hundred million dollars to protect Canadian steel at home and high-sendarmes. Stakes trade talks across the border. Canada is bracing for another wave of U.S. tariffs next week.

And as Tom Perry reports, negotiators are headed back to Washington to face tough choices on concessions. I am announcing today the launch of the Commodities Sectoral Support Program. Ottawa's latest attempt to offset the impact of U.S. tariffs, Transport Minister Stephen McKinnon, unveiling a $100 million fund to cut transportation costs for Canadian steel and make it cheaper to ship between provinces to projects across the country. This is a response to these extremely unfair, unjustified tariffs. US President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, and autos, and is set to slap new levies on a host of other Canadian products next week.

Dominic LeBlanc, Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. relations, is preparing for more meetings in Washington, along with the country's top trade negotiations. Janice Charette. Sources suggest Canada is prepared to make concessions to get some U.S. tariffs lifted, but finance minister Francois Philippe Champagne says the government won't sacrifice the supply management system that protects Canada's dairy and poultry sectors. We support supply management and we will continue to defend the interests of our farmers in our negotiations. For the U.S., a main sore point is Canadian provinces refusing to stock American alcohol unless the U.S. lifts tariffs. So far, Ottawa and the provinces have not

openly discussed bending on that front. Opposition leader Pierre Palliev says Canada needs to keep using that kind of pressure to force the Americans hand. Whether it's alcohol on our shelves or future access to expanded Canadian oil and mineral production that the Americans need, let's use that all as positive leverage to get what we want. But these, these are the United States. But Dealing with the Trump administration is, as always, unpredictable. The U.S. President has come up with ever more imaginative ways to pursue his tariff agenda after the Supreme Court struck down large parts of it. Martha Harrison, an international trade lawyer, says it all makes things more complicated for Canadian

negotiators. With every turn, when we make a resolution or come close to a resolution, there is a new statute that the president will look at and look to to find another opportunity to enact different tariffs. It's against that backdrop that Canada keeps trying to make a deal, one that so far has proven elusive. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. An Ontario Liberal MP has announced he's stepping down this weekend. Sean Chen has represented the Scarborough North riding since he was first elected in 2015. In a statement, Chen says he has had health issues since he was in a vehicle accident while commuting to Ottawa

last fall. He says he can no longer travel there as often as his job requires. Chen says his best option is to step down as member of Parliament. He will officially resign his seat on Saturday. It's been almost 30 years since hip-hop music pioneer Tupac Shakur was shot dead before a performance in Las Vegas. Today, a trial got underway for a man charged with his murder. The high-profile Tupac Cold case was finally cracked by the accused, who allegedly confessed in his memoir. As Jennifer Youen reports, he's now telling a different story.

Hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, just a few months before his death, rapping about a glock, the type of gun with which he would be killed. Who killed Tupac? It's been a hotly debated but ultimately unanswered question since the rapper was killed in a dry by shooting

near Las Vegas back in 1996. Until, now. You have the right to have the jury sentenced you. Today in a Nevada courtroom, former gang leader, Dwayne Keith Davis, stood accused of masterminding the murder. After admitting in a 2019 book, he orchestrated this shooting, buying the gun and going after Tupac because of a feud between the rapper and his nephew. This is my book here.

I would like you guys to buy it and get the real truth. Then he went around, promoting the book in his interviews, insisting it was the truth. Hey, Keith, Metro Police. I'm over here. Police noticed and arrested him. Now, in jailhouse interviews, he's changing his tune. I didn't write that phone.

Telling a local Fox reporter, his co-author was the ghostwriter, and that he told tall tales in interviews to make money. He volunteered information that seems to connect him to the killing and shooting of Tupac. Howard University Law Professor Lucius Outlaw III says, rappers exaggerate or make up tales of misdeeds all. the time on their songs for street cred. But he doubts that defense will work for Davis. That's a little bit different than when somebody published a memoir and they say, this is my life. And the other problem for Mr. Davies and his lawyers is that he gave

interviews where he says, yes, this memoir is accurate. This is my life. Of course he's going to say that now because he's facing serious charges. He's facing time, a lot of time. Toobach's cousin, William Lassane, doesn't buy it either. He wants to say, see Tupac's killers held accountable. But no matter the outcome, it's too late for justice, he says. My belief is that justice has far gone, has been foregone years ago. The night my cousin was murdered. Should have been an intense investigation at that time. We're here 30 years later. Davis faces life in jail without parole if the jury finds him guilty of murder. The trial is expected to last for a month. Jennifer Yun, CBC News,

Toronto. Russia's Supreme Court has barred an anti-war party from taking part in forthcoming parliamentary elections. Yabloka is one of the oldest opposition parties in post-Soviet Russia, and it's the only one openly calling for an end to war in Ukraine. A small pro-Kremlin nationalist party claimed Yablika was receiving funds from foreign donors through third parties and accused it of being a Western-backed movement. seeking to undermine the Russian state.

Years of free flights, fake IDs, and social media posts, a Toronto man has pleaded guilty to fraud in the U.S. after impersonating an airline pilot in order to fly for free. As she and Desjardin tells us, the case raises questions about airline security protocols. Are you real live pilot? You're not sure I am, little lady. What's your name? It's softly similar to the 2002 movie, Catch Me,

if you can, the one where Leonardo DiCaprio poses as a pilot to defraud an airline. Instead, this involves a former flight attendant from Toronto, Dallas, Pekornick, pleading guilty to wire fraud after posing as a pilot, taking free flights for years, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Hawaii. But like the movie, Pekornick got caught and is now facing real jail time and major fines. This is not somebody off the street who doesn't understand the business. John Graddick is a lecturer with McGill University and an aviation safety expert. This was a special case that probably made it more difficult to get this person because this person knew the system and knew the workings. According to court documents, Bacornick worked as a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019.

Then used a fake ID to masquerade as a pilot from that carrier, snaking hundreds of free tickets from three U.S.-based airlines. The forgery must have been pretty good. Until an employee of one of the U.S. airlines took a picture of it, and Pekornick's former employer confirmed the ID was fraudulent. Still, it worked for four years. A Facebook account linked to Pekornick regularly shared travel adventures until about 2024. This social media video shows him rolling a carry-on suitcase through London's Heathrow Airport in 2023. Many of my friends are married.

Many of my friends are having kids the caption breathes. I'm over here trying to avoid checking my bag and hoping for a window seat. Dad Bub is a former pilot, an aviation historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. I think it's kind of a wake-up call to all of us that people can manufacture authentic-looking IDs. Prosecutors said Pecoranick even requested a special cockpit seat, known as a jump seat. Though it's not clear if you ever sat in one. With the pilots, you kind of go on an honor system that you actually are a pilot, And so I think it's probably going to change a protocol as to how these things happen where pilots are going to have to ask questions.

Okay, what type of plane do you fly? What routes do you fly? Among major Canadian carriers, only Porter Airlines is based in Toronto. A spokesperson told CBC they are unable to verify any information related to this story. Pekornick is now facing up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The sentencing hearing is set for December 8th. Shand Desjardin, CBC News, Toronto. The world's oceans hit their hottest temperatures ever recorded in July. The EU's climate monitoring service measures average surface sea temperatures outside polar regions.

The data shows the warmth is partly fueled by El Nino conditions in the Pacific. Scientists have warned this latest El Nino is being supercharged by human-caused climate change. That leads to temperature spikes in more extreme weather. The previous hottest July was in 2023. Returning to our top story and the devastating wildfires in BC, the battle against them is getting a boost from technology, from AI-powered cameras to fire-starting drones. Officials are turning to new tools to help fight the flames

and detect threats sooner. Tanya Fletcher has more on some Canadian firefighting firsts. Over time, it'll move, does a 360. Perched atop a student dorm building on Burnaby Mountain, the highest vantage point, in Metro Vancouver, an AI camera scans the horizon for signs of smoke. So zooming in, zooming out of certain areas, and if it does sense something, it's going to zoom in and analyze it. Scott Allen with the Burnaby Fire Department says it's one of six cameras their team has installed around the region this year

as climate change pushes the wildfire risk closer to urban areas. The cameras spotted the wildfire in Metro Vancouver's Belcaro Regional Park last week. alerting crews even before a 911 call is made, allowing them to respond more quickly. Firefighters have also installed 45 chemical sniffing ground sensors attached to trees deep in forested areas. The same technology now being used in Kelowna and Vernon, too, B.C. leading the country in wildfire detection. And because of this impact, I can honestly say that this technology will save a life one day. This destructive fire season marks another Canadian first, using a drone to carry out a controlled burn on an active wildfire.

Hovering over the flames, tearing through the Fraser Canyon, it dropped many fire starters as part of a planned ignition in July. Those happy little moments are fleeting in these types of wildfire seasons. It's not every day that you get to see something that can help you in the future. Fawn's rage elders with the BC Wildfire Service has been testing the technology for years. He says he shed a happy tear to finally see it in action in real life. And the rest of the world is watching. We've been reached out to by a place like Australia that is on a similar trajectory.

So we can start there gathering data. While deep inside a computer engineering lab at UBC, researchers are training AI chatbots to help cruise triage fires and prioritize resources using real-time data. Jose Marti is leading the team. With what we're doing, they can see cost. consequences. Based on current scenarios, predictive modeling presents decision makers with various outcomes, allowing them to weigh factors like evacuation impacts, structure loss, and environmental

damage. Is the wind going to change in the next half an hour, one hour, three hours? Is the terrain going to change? So it depends on where the fire is right now, the prediction for later. But he says they will never train artificial intelligence to decide which option is best, because, like many in the field point out, technology can never replace human intuition. Tanya Fletcher, CBC News, Vancouver. Parts of the UK are bracing for their fifth heat wave of the summer, with temperatures in southern England expected to again soar past 35 degrees. It compounds a long stretch of hot, dry weather that began in May,

resulting in flash wildfires, health issues, and water rationing. Now, as Nala Ayyad reports, British farmers are sounding the alarm about food shortages. Hello, you lot. Stephen Hook is saying hello to his cows. What are you doing out here then, eh? You've all escaped. They've crossed a dried-up riverbed that usually contains them in search of grass.

The grass that we do have, it's effectively standing hay. What drives the Hook and Sun Farm is working with nature to produce grass-fed raw organic milk. And so when nature rebels, the whole enterprise falters. In the last couple of years, the challenge from the weather has been off the scale. Steve's family has farmed in Sussex in southern England for 250 years. He's never seen it as dry as this. The health of his grass determines how many cows he can keep and the quality of their milk.

The unrelenting heat means there won't be enough to get through winter. If I haven't got the food for my animals, then I've got to really start to be thinking about that before February, before I get to that position. Yeah, it's horrendous, really. It's been a horrendously dry, record-breaking year here. July was the driest since record-keeping began 190 years ago. That's led to heat warnings, low water levels, and even bans on using sprinklers. London's parks normally known for their brilliant green. grass are visibly parched swaths of yellow and crunchy grass. A drought has been declared

in Wales and in more than half of England. In London's borough market, there is high demand for hook and sun milk. He sells it himself. But the overall state of the country's farms has already led to shortages and concerns about food security. 80 million litres of milk were almost lost. So they were the reduction in yield in July alone. Rachel Madeline DeVise from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, who's also a livestock farmer, says the problem and the consequences are global. Unfortunately, in terms of climate change, that extreme, prolonged, challenging weather is here to stay. And I think it's really key that farmers everywhere, listen up and assess their businesses now

and adapt for the future to make them more resilient. For Steve, the options are costly, buy more land or more grass from others. Worst case, selling some of his prized cows. I hate to save this to our consumers, but I think that they're about to get a reality check in terms of what the actual value of food is. The next heat wave is already starting. As a farmer, Steve Hook is necessarily still fueled by optimism. But it is being tested. Nala Ayed, CBC News, London.

And finally. I wasn't one bit concerned. I don't know how my family felt with me embarking on this journey with two strangers. That's Patricia Robinson on her unexpected adventure on Saturday. She was flying from her home in Saskatoon to visit family in Colonna, B.C.C. To celebrate her 90th birthday next weekend, but wildfire smoke interrupted the second leg of her trip, forcing the plane to turn back to Calgary mid-Jurney. During the flight, she hit it off with her seatmate, Quinn Sedmac, who suggested they could, rent a car to make the rest of the trip. The idea also appealed to a second stranger named Tanner Sailwitch, who was sitting behind them. He overheard this, and so that piqued his interest in possibly renting a car and driving to get home.

They were both anxious to get home, and I, of course, was anxious to get here to my family. Back at the Calgary airport, Sailwitch says the group got separated until a flight attendant helped reunite them. She went walking away and ended up coming back with Miss Pat in a chair and rolled her up. And we said, you know what, let's cancel some place and go for a drive. And so began a seven-hour drive through the Rocky Mountains and BC's interior, the two men in the front seats with Robinson in the back. It turned out to be wonderful, and my instincts entrusting these two young men were bang on. They were really, really good to me.

We've got a wealth of history in the backseat and just great stories. I mean, all three of us were easy to, you know, just start conversation, which was nice. It wasn't awkward at all. During those conversations, Robinson and Sailwitch realized they share a special date in common. She says, oh, what day? I said, well, it's the 15th. She says, that's the same birthday. And I said, well, I'll be 45. And she says, well, that's exactly half my age.

Robinson is now in Colonna with family and is looking forward to celebrating. her 90th birthday. She calls her road trip an amazing story of people being kind to other people. They were very kind, very gentlemanly. Their bothers did a very good job. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Monday, August 10th. I'm Colin Butler. Good night. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca slash podcasts.