In the news today: B.C. wildfire reinforcements, Colombia earthquake, car thefts down

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Mexican reinforcements arriving for wildfire fight in Summerland, B.C.

Reinforcements are set to arrive today in the battle against a deadly wildfire on the western shores of Okanagan Lake in the southern B.C. Interior that has forced 20,000 people to evacuate.

Hugh Murdoch with the BC Wildfire Service said 100 Mexican firefighters would join the fight against the Bald Range blaze that has claimed one life and caused destruction as it roared towards Summerland.

RCMP have launched a criminal investigation into what sparked the fire that erupted Friday and caused the death of an 80-year-old woman in Meadow Valley, west of Summerland, as she tried to escape.

The fire has destroyed numerous homes on its way to Summerland, with Mayor Doug Holmes telling the community’s 12,000 residents they won’t be going home any time soon, but should prepare for the level of destruction they’ll find when they do.

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Rescue workers and residents search through the rubble after an earthquake struck Pereira, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombia searches for its missing after a powerful earthquake kills more than 100

Search and rescue efforts are underway in western Colombia after a powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 111 people and damaged hundreds of buildings.

The quake hit the remote Choco region on Monday and was felt as far as the capital of Bogotá.

Soldiers, rescue personnel and families have been picking through the rubble to find survivors in dozens of cities and towns, and families are posting information about missing loved ones on citizen-run websites.

Colombia’s Geological Service says the quake was the country’s strongest this century and was followed by numerous aftershocks.

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Luciano Frattolin is taken away in custody from the Essex County Court in Elizabethtown, New York on Friday, July 24, 2026. Luciano Frattolin charged with 2nd-degree murder and concealment of a human corpse.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

New York jury convicts father of murder in death of nine-year-old Montreal girl

The family of nine-year-old Melina Frattolin hugged and cried in an upstate New York courtroom Monday as a jury found the Montreal girl’s father guilty of drowning her and hiding her body in a marsh last summer.

Jurors deliberated for an hour before delivering the verdict against 46-year-old Luciano Frattolin, whose sentencing is set for Oct. 14. 

Court heard Frattolin and his daughter were nearing the end of a weeklong trip to the United States when he reported she’d been kidnapped. Her body was found the next day. 

Michael Langey, the Essex County District Attorney, said it felt good to hear the verdict after a year of working on this case.

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RCMP investigator Maxime Deschenes looks at a recovered stolen Lexus at a news conference on Thursday, July 17, 2014, in Montreal.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Auto thefts continue downward trend across Canada, new report shows

Reported auto thefts are falling across the country and the number over the first half of 2026 was 10 per cent lower than in the same period last year.

A new report from the non-profit anti-fraud group Équité Association says auto theft in Canada is trending toward the “pre-crisis” of before 2021, when the number of auto thefts shot up.

Bryan Gast with the Équité Association says the drop in auto thefts is encouraging, but luxury vehicles are still being stolen and their profits are still being used to fund organized crime.

An Angus Reid survey commissioned by Équité Association this year found that, despite the drop in reported auto thefts, most Canadians still feel their vehicles’ anti-theft technology isn’t as robust as it should be.

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Bernadette Smith, Manitoba minister of housing, addictions and homelessness, speaks to media in Winnipeg on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site set to fully open

Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site is set to fully open today in Winnipeg after lengthy delays.

The province aimed to open a site in 2025, but pushback on the first chosen location and other complications created delays.

The site doesn’t provide drugs but is meant as a place where the potential harms of using them can be reduced while also connecting people to support services. 

It has been criticized by some central Winnipeg business owners and residents concerned about security, while the Opposition Progressive Conservatives have said the government should focus on treatment.

The government has said a supervised consumption site is needed to address the growing number of overdose deaths in Winnipeg and reduce the number of people openly using drugs.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 11, 2026.

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