Tens of thousands return home as firefighters make progress

KAMLOOPS — Tens of thousands of B.C. residents who were forced to escape wildfires have returned home in recent days as firefighters made progress and conditions improved.

About 20,000 people remained displaced on Monday, down from 45,000 last week, said Chris Duffy, executive director of operations at Emergency Management B.C.

People have returned to 100 Mile House and its surrounding areas, as well as Princeton, Cache Creek and Lac La Hache, all communities where evacuation orders have been downgraded to alerts, he said.

Residents of an area northwest of 100 Mile House were cleared to go home Monday, as were people from Little Fort and Clearwater, north of Kamloops.

An evacuation order is still in effect for 10,000 residents of Williams Lake. The Cariboo Regional District is pressing ahead with plans for re-entry, but unpredictable conditions make it impossible to set a firm date for a return.

Duffy said the hope is for Williams Lake residents to return “early to mid-week.”

Regional districts make decisions to lift or impose evacuation orders, with advice from wildfire and emergency officials.

Crews were battling 154 wildfires on Monday.

Firefighters caught a break on Sunday when a windstorm failed to stir up the flames.

Nineteen new fires were sparked, with nine caused by lightning, five blamed on humans and the rest under investigation.

Although the wind storm didn’t kick up the fires, it did topple trees and bring down power lines in B.C.’s Shuswap region as well as around Golden and Revelstoke.

Emergency officials in Prince George said the number of evacuees has grown slightly because eight healthy babies have been born since pregnant women were among people who arrived at reception centres there.

Northern Health said nearly 1,800 children are among the nearly 10,000 people receiving assistance in Prince George.