University of British Columbia Okanagan geography student Jenna Taylor went home last month to spend time with her family in Flin Flon, Man.
A relaxing break did not ensue. Taylor and her family would join thousands of evacuees on May 27, fleeing wildfires that prompted a provincewide state of emergency and spread to less than one kilometre from their home.
Instead of despairing, Taylor put her skills to use by building an interactive website to provide visualizations of the spread of the fires, their intensity and other information.
“I mean, it’s so easy in a situation like this to just kind of constantly be doom-scrolling through social media,” said Taylor, “and it’s hard to be in the dark and not know what’s going on.”…