Evacuation orders partially rescinded in Bulkley-Nechako

Nine evacuation orders issued by the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District have been partially rescinded over the last week, leaving board chair Bill Miller in more of an upbeat mood.

“It’s so much of a relief that I’m signing rescinds rather than orders,” he said over the phone from Burns Lake.

As of Wednesday, the number of properties under evacuation order stood at 758, down from 1,024 as of April 22. The number of properties on evacuation alert was 1,422 as of Wednesday.

Since Saturday, orders related to the Nadina Lake, Island Lake, Shovel Lake, Purvis Lake, West Babine River, Tezzeron Lake and the Discovery Creek-Germansen Landing wildfires were partially rescinded.

As well, an evacuation alert for the Sakeniche wildfire was partially withdrawn.

Miller credited the cooler weather for much of the turnaround. But he added firefighters’ progress on the Shovel Lake and Island Lake wildfires has also been a major reason.

“Certainly the fire front is significantly smaller but also in the areas that were at risk before, they either got good guards on or they’re burnt out,” Miller said.

As of midday Thursday, the Shovel Lake fire near Fraser Lake measured 92,255 hectares and was 20 per cent contained and the Island Lake fire south of Francois Lake was at 20,468 hectares with no percentage in terms of containment provided.

The emphasis has been on getting people back in their homes as soon as it is safe, Miller said.

“Even if you choose to stay in the evacuation order area, it’s very disruptive to your life,” Miller said. “You can’t come and go freely. You have all kinds of issues.”

He said the sky has been “pretty clear” in Burns Lake over the last couple of days as the wind has moved smoke out of the area, although he added the situation remains not as good south of Francois Lake.

“I think we are on the right trend, we are on the right day,” Miller said. “Pretty much every day we’re seeing change and it’s getting better.”

B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Kevin Skrepnek expressed much the same view for most during a teleconference with provincial media on Thursday, but tempered his comments with respect to the Central Interior.

He said Friday “could be a potentially challenging day in the north” and warned of winds gusting as high as 60 km/h.

“So we could see an increase in fire activity in some of our incidences in Central B.C.,” he said.

And while rain is expected to follow for most of the province, “it looks like that central part of the province is not going to get the same level of relief as elsewhere.”

Relatively dry conditions are expected to return after the weekend, Skrepnek added.

He urged campers heading out into the woods for the long weekend to avoid areas where fires are raging and noted campfires remain banned for most of the province.