Thousands evacuated as fires rage out of control
100 MILE HOUSE, B.C. — Buildings have been lost and people were told to leave their homes as two fast-growing wildfires threatened communities Friday across central British Columbia.
Justine Hunse of the BC Wildfire Service said a blaze was burning across a seven-square-kilometre area outside Ashcroft, about 100 kilometres west of Kamloops.
“We have preformed a tactical evacuation in the area, which means that firefighters have gone door-to-door to evacuate folks at very short notice,” she said.
The fire was partly within the boundaries of the Ashcroft Indian Reserve and structures have been “impacted,” Hunse said. She could not confirm the extent of the damage.
Hunse said recent weather conditions have been persistently hot and dry, pushing the risk of fire to extreme.
“We’ve really seen the fire danger rating spike over the last week or so,” she said.
Ashcroft resident Ian Douglas said he stood with a couple above the reserve and saw the flames destroy their home.
“A lady I know came up ... and just as she was getting there, she and her husband watched their house burn,” he told radio station CHNL. “You could just see it go.”
Douglas said he believes five of the 25 buildings on the reserve were destroyed.
John Ranta, Cache Creek’s mayor and the head of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, said a state of emergency was declared in the Ashcroft and Cache Creek area because of the fire. By Friday evening an evacuation order had been issued for the entire community of Cache Creek.
The fire forced Highway 1 to shut down in both directions between Ashcroft and Cache Creek, while Highway 97C running through Ashcroft was also closed, said Drive BC.
Theo Faber saw the blaze Friday around noon while driving his truck and two empty trailers past Ashcroft to pick up a load of lumber.
“There were flames right in the ditch on both sides (for) roughly about two kilometres,” he said. “I could feel the heat coming right through from the cab.”
A separate fire burning about 200 kilometres northwest of Kamloops forced as many as 3,600 people out of their homes.
Al Richmond, chairman of the Cariboo Regional District, said an evacuation order that was expanded Friday applied to about 2,100 properties around 105 Mile House, 108 Mile House and the west shore of Lac La Hache. About 600 other properties remained under evacuation alert, he added.
No properties were at risk of burning by Friday afternoon, but officials issued the order to leave because of concerns about changing wind patterns and heavy smoke cutting off access roads and evacuation routes, Richmond said.
“When the winds shift, as they are predicted to do, the threat becomes greater, smoke would move into communities, making it difficult to get people out,” he said, describing the blaze as volatile. “Moving now will eliminate that element of panic.”
There are only two exits along about 50 kilometres of road in the 108 Mile House area where 2,500 people have been ordered to leave, Richmond said. “It’s prudent to get them out now.” Two reception centres for evacuees were set up at a curling rink in 100 Mile House and a hotel in Williams Lake. The fire was listed as 15 square kilometres in size late Friday afternoon.