Cariboo Regional District Chair Al Richmond gave an update on the current wildfire situation in the region.
He says while communities like 100 Mile House and Williams Lake have allowed residents to go back home, they are not out of the woods just yet.
“You need to cognizant that you could be asked to leave in a half an hour and we may not have the lead time we had previously but some folks wanted to come home and we think that is a good idea for some that needed to come back.”
The situation is still volatile but a bit more manageable than a few weeks ago.
“If you think that this danger has passed it has not, it’s just more manageable now. People need to be diligent and to just be careful as you’re going to cut that grass and that rock chip that hits the blade that could be enough to start the dry grass on fire,” says Richmond.
Fire crews were called to 103 Mile Lake Road around 8 o’clock on Thursday evening to put out some hot spots that flared up.
Several communities within the Cariboo that can go home include :
- Sugar Cane
- 150 Mile House
- Fox Mountain
- Esler
- Pine Valley and Dog Creek Road
- Chimney Valley and Chimney Lake Road
- Felker Lake, Big Lake, McLeese Lake
- Miocene and Springhouse
Communities still under an Evacuation Order are the following :
- Wildwood
- Spokin Lake
- Soda Creek
- The Chilcotin
Richmond says people have access to Highway 20 once again.
“In some cases, Highway 20 has been open to traffic coming east but not both ways. People couldn’t understand we were getting people out of the area so they were safe as there wasn’t a lot of places for them to go. With Williams Lake on alert and the stores beginning to open, I’m going to work today with the highways and forestry with our staff and we will be working to see if we can get that highway open so we can move some traffic in and out as some folks need to come and get supplies.”
Williams Lake residents received the green light to return home on Thursday.