WILDFIRES: STATE OF EMERGENCY
State of emergency declared as dozens of new fires sparked
A provincewide state of emergency was declared for B.C. Friday night after dozens of new wildfires broke out during the day, forcing thousands of people from their homes and destroying numerous buildings.
On Friday alone, 138 new wildfires were reported, a provincial government statement said. Evacuation orders and alerts were issued for the Interior, including for Cache Creek, Ashcroft and Princeton. Orders were already in effect for 105 Mile House and 108 Mile House. The wildfire danger is high because of hot, dry weather and a forecast of thunderstorms in parts of the province.
The state of emergency was declared “to ensure a co-ordinated response to the current wildfire situation and to ensure public safety,” Todd Stone, minister of transportation and infrastructure, said in a statement. Under the state of emergency, officials are given authority “to take every action necessary to fight these wildfires and protect residents and their communities,” the statement said.
100 MILE HOUSE — The province declared a state of emergency on Friday, after 138 new wildfires started throughout British Columbia.
Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who is also the minister responsible for Emergency Management B.C., announced the state of emergency Friday night to ensure a co-ordinated response to the wildfire situation and to protect public safety.
Buildings have been lost and people were told to leave their homes as fast-growing wildfires threatened communities in central B.C.
Evacuation alerts and orders were issued for Ashcroft, Cache Creek and Princeton.
The fire near Ashcroft, about 100 kilometres west of Kamloops, measured about 3,900 hectares by Friday evening.
“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,” said Justine Hunse of the B.C. Wildfire Service.
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.
At least 75 people were affected by an evacuation near Cache Creek, he said, adding that he heard up to five buildings were destroyed in the Ashcroft area.
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 B.C.
Two other fires are causing problems, one near Princeton on Highway 5A and another west of 100 Mile House.
The 100 Mile House 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 said.
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, Skrepnek 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.
Kevin Skrepnek, chief information officer for the B.C. Wildfire Service, said the fire broke out Thursday and 120 firefighters were assigned to build guards along its eastern flank, nearest to the communities ordered to evacuate.
Skrepnek said Friday that the cause of the blaze remains under investigation and that more equipment was en route, though heavy smoke and poor visibility could hamper the use of air tankers.
Thirty-three homes in the direct path of the fire were ordered to evacuate shortly after the fire started.
Richmond said fire crews installed sprinkler systems to protect the homes.
“The fire has burned past them and those structures are still in place, so those units … protected those homes for those folks,” he said.
Several smaller fires are burning on Vancouver Island.
The largest, a wildfire near Nimpkish Lake south of Port McNeill, was 50 per cent contained, the Coastal Fire Centre said Friday.
The 15-hectare wildfire, reported Thursday, is now down to 10 hectares in size, said fire information officer Donna McPherson.
Thirty-five firefighters were battling the fire Friday, along with three helicopters.
“We’re working hard to get the containment all the way around the fire,” McPherson said. “The winds that were supposed to be in the area didn’t materialize, which is fortunate.”
The blaze is believed to be caused by humans.
A 1.2-hectare fire on Mount Manuel Quimper, near Sooke, is considered under control.
The fire rating for the Island is high, with some extreme ratings around Port Alberni.
A campfire ban covering most of Vancouver Island took effect on Thursday.