Weather concerns loom as wildfire evacuees head home

KAMLOOPS – The weather is still the top concern as crews continue to battle raging wildfires across BC’s central interior.

“Today, an upper trough or cold front is forecast to move across central and southern BC, bringing gusty winds and scattered showers,” says Navi Saini with the BC Wildfire Service, who adds, it doesn’t stop there. “There’s also a 40 to 60 per cent chance of lightning in the southeast of the province.”

There are an estimated 152 wildfires currently burning across the province, with nine new fires being sparked yesterday. Five of them are believed to have been caused by lightning.

She says people need to take responsibility for their actions, and avoid anything that may spark a flame in the outdoors.

“Of course we can’t enforce rules on every activity that could result in a wildfire, campfires is just one of the things that we can control. But asking people if they can to use alternative systems, so we say please use a spark arrestor on your ATV or dirt bike to prevent fires.”

There are still an estimated 30,256 evacuees across the province who are waiting to hear when they’ll get to go home.

For those who’ve already had the pleasure of getting that news, however, Chris Duffy with Emergency Management BC says they need to follow instructions closely, and everyone needs to be vigilant.

“Follow the instructions of your local authority and first responders. Those people are there for your safety, so local authorities may specify a safe route or routes for your return. Follow those directions including road closures and other signage and avoid shortcuts,” explains Duffy.

Evacuees returning home are also advised to take all steps necessary to ensure food and water are safe to eat and drink. People also need to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice as many evacuation orders were replaced by alerts.

Some permits have been issued for people to enter evacuation zones temporarily, but as far as the return to places like 100 Mile House has gone, there haven’t been any issues.

“It’s been very smooth, we’ve had no issues with any traffic moving in and out of 100 Mile,” says Norm Parkes with the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure. “From our point of view, the re-entry was well planned and well executed.”

As for when the thousands from Williams Lake will be able to go home, Saini says theres’ still no clear timeline but the situation is being monitored.

There have been an estimated 739 fires so far this year, and province has spent close to $126-million on fire suppression efforts.