B.C. fire crews brace for stronger winds
WILLIAMS LAKE — Crews struggling to beat back wildfires in the B.C. Interior braced this weekend for the worst as officials predicted weather conditions would deteriorate.
Kevin Skrepnek of the B.C. Wildfire Service said today’s forecast called for sustained winds between 20 and 40 kilometres an hour across the Cariboo region and the southern Interior, with gusts reaching 70 km/h in some areas affected by the fires.
“That level of wind certainly has the prospect to really whip up fire behaviour,” Skrepnek said. “If that forecast comes to fruition, it’s going to be a big challenge for us. We could be seeing some pretty extreme and aggressive conditions.”
About 170 wildfires were burning across the province’s central and southern Interior, including three around the town of Williams Lake, where 11,000 people were on standby to leave their homes.
Evacuation orders were issued Friday night for the village of Clinton and the resort area of Loon Lake due to the growth of the fire on the Ashcroft reserve, which has reached more than 13,000 hectares. Loon Lake and Clinton are about 45 kilometres north of Ashcroft.
Since the fire season began in April, about 615 blazes have consumed 1,140 square kilometres of land, forcing officials to order evacuations affecting 16,680 people.
Rob Turner, assistant deputy minister for Emergency Management B.C., said about 4,000 families had registered with Canadian Red Cross as of Friday afternoon. More than 10,000 people had registered at reception centres, about half of whom were being housed in group lodging.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of a new ad-hoc cabinet committee to co-ordinate the federal government’s response to the fires, including recovery and rebuilding efforts. The committee includes the ministers of justice, national defence, Indigenous and northern affairs, and public safety and emergency preparedness.
For wildlife evacuees, there’s also the threat of looting.
The RCMP said they have arrested a half-dozen people accused of exploiting the disaster over the past week.
Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Surrey, said looting is an unfortunate but routine part of virtually every natural disaster, from fires to floods, hurricanes to earthquakes.
“It’s predatory behaviour of the worst kind,” Gordon said, adding that looters are opportunists.
“There is nothing especially organized. People just see a chance to make off with somebody else’s possessions, and they’ll do it if they can get away with it.”
To help prevent looting, Gordon would like to see police train volunteer safety officers who would remain in their communities during an emergency, when it’s safe to do so.
Quesnel Mayor Bob Simpson said he has been receiving reports of “fake fire marshals” knocking on doors telling residents their street is under an evacuation alert.
Swindlers do not necessarily show up in person when emergencies hit.
Evan Kelly of the Better Business Bureau warned about scam artists who set up fake crowdfunding websites to take money illegally.