Residents of Princeton, 100 Mile House return home

KAMLOOPS — Residents of two communities evacuated due to wildfires in British Columbia have been allowed to return, but officials say it’s unclear when thousands of others will be allowed to go home.

Evacuation orders for 100 Mile House and Princeton were downgraded to alerts on Saturday, allowing residents to go home, although with the knowledge that they may have to leave again on a moment’s notice.

Transportation Minister Norm Parks told a conference call Sunday that the return to the Interior communities had gone smoothly.

More than 30,000 people remained displaced by wildfires on Sunday as a cold front moved across central and southern B.C., bringing with it gusting winds that threatened to stir up flames.

The weather is making it difficult to predict when other evacuees, including about 10,000 people from Williams Lake, may be able to return home, said fire information officer Navi Saini.

“It’s hard to say right now how close we are to allowing people into Williams Lake. It really depends on fire activity,” she said.

“Although we are making progress on the fires, it is a pretty fluid situation right now, and with the forecast wind, it’s something we’ll continue to monitor and there’ll be discussions had later.”

The province allowed people back onto lakes in the Cariboo region surrounding Williams Lake on Sunday, but warned that firefighting aircraft might need to access the water.

More than 4,000 people were fighting 150 wildfires burning across the province Sunday afternoon.