On with the show: Festival goes ahead despite fire threat

SALMO — A weekend music festival in southern B.C. that was cancelled due to an encroaching wildfire saw the show go on Sunday night, although an evacuation alert remained in effect for the area.

Organizers of the Shambhala Music Festival said in an email Sunday that damp, cool weather downgraded the threat of the fire moving close to the Salmo River ranch property where the event is held.

They said the decision followed hours of meetings Sunday morning with the Regional District of Central Kootenay and other local governments.

The regional district had issued the evacuation alert Saturday morning after the B.C. Wildfire Service reported that flames had crossed the Salmo River and were heading toward the tiny community of Salmo.

Ryan Turcot of the fire service said Sunday that the McCormick Creek fire, which is 337 hectares in size, continues to burn about nine kilometres south of the festival site.

“Overnight last night, there wasn’t any significant growth of the fire. The fire did receive 1.2 millimetres of precipitation as of nine o’clock this morning,” Turcot told a news briefing Sunday, noting it isn’t a lot of rain.

“Contingency guard lines have been established around this fire and it is currently 15-per-cent contained.”

Elsewhere in B.C., numerous communities received new evacuation orders over the weekend.

Turcot said 28 new fires were sparked in the province between Saturday and Sunday, most of which were from lightning. Gusty winds, he said, caused aggressive growth in the Cariboo region.

RCMP spokeswoman Dawn Roberts said Mounties noticed some of the fires in that region and made a “tactical decision” to order an evacuation involving residents in the Canim Lake, Hawkins Lake and the Canim Lake First Nation before officials issued formal evacuation orders.

She noted that in Alexis Creek, where police helped people leave, officers removed items from the RCMP detachment in the community.

On the south shores of Green Lake, where an order was issued, Roberts said some people didn’t leave. But she said they changed their minds when buildings started to burn.

“This did hamper efforts of emergency services, but we were able to get back in and assist those evacuations,” Roberts said.