Residents’ aggravation intensifies
Resources needed to protect properties near Burns Lake in short supply as some people refuse to evacuate
The frustration level is rising for residents who have so far refused to evacuate from a wildfire zone in north-central B.C. as resources needed to continue protecting their properties are in short supply.
The area, about 40 kilometres south of Burns Lake, is one of several hot zones in B.C., where hundreds of kilometres of tinder dry forests have burned.
Some supplies have been getting through on a B.C.-government operated ferry — the only easy route into the area that crosses Francois Lake — but others have not, Mike Robertson said by phone Wednesday.
On Tuesday, some diesel and gasoline was allowed through, but residents of the so-called South side were told no more diesel would be allowed to be delivered, said Robertson.
Several fires have burned more than 1,100 square kilometres south and southwest of Burns Lake, where about 200 firefighters are on the front lines.
Two of the fires — Nadina Lake and Verdun Mountain — exhibited aggressive behaviour on Wednesday.
Winds were gusting up to 25 kilometres per hour.
Emergency Management B.C. executive director Chris Duffy said Wednesday it is important to respect the evacuation orders. “To stay inside an evacuation order puts yourself and your family and loved ones in great danger — and potentially you are also putting people who are first responders whose job it is to try and protect those areas in danger,” said Duffy.
B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Erin Catherall said supplies such as medicine and food are being allowed through for those who have refused to evacuate.
She said she believed that all residents who had been independently working on fire suppression are now working with the province and therefore have access to fuel.
There are more than 560 fires burning in the province, 16 of which started this week, which fire officials acknowledge have stretched their resources.
In total, nearly 6,300 square kilometres has been burned in B.C., making it the second-worst fire season since 1950. Last year was the worst when 12,000 square kilometres was burned.
About 230 firefighters continue to battle the Shovel Lake fire, about 70 kilometres east of Burns Lake, which has grown to 870 square kilometres.
David Luggi, a resident of Stellako, south of the fire, who is just outside an evacuation-order area, said he is hoping that cooler forecast weather will curtail the fire’s spread.
“The dial is leaning toward more optimistic,” said Luggi, a former Stellat’en First Nation chief.
In Fort St. James, where the community has been on evacuation alert because of the Shovel Lake fire to the southwest, mayor Rob MacDougall said the threat appears to have subsided somewhat and temperatures are beginning to cool.
About 600 to 700 people voluntarily evacuated the town and another 500 from the community of Nak’azdli just to the south, he noted.
“It could have been a helluva a lot worse,” said MacDougall.
“If the fire is knocked down, we’ll make some decisions to get people coming home.”
The B.C. government declared a state of emergency last week.
Far to the north, residents of a tiny community near the Yukon boundary are the latest to be forced from their homes by a wildfire.
Roughly 80 residents of Lower Post received evacuation notices Tuesday as the B.C. Wildfire Service warned a 40-square-kilometre blaze to the south has moved within five kilometres of the village and also threatened the enclave of Skooks Landing.
To stay inside an evacuation order puts yourself and your family … in great danger.” Chris Duffy, provincial official