The Cariboo Regional District expanded the evacuation order to an area east of Nazko due to the wildfire activity in the region on Thursday.
Ellie Dupont is the Fire Information Officer in charge of the Kluskoil Lake wildfire that caused the Cariboo Regional District to take that action.
She says that fire and the Bazaeko Lake fire remain out of control and have likely both grown but she says they don’t know by how much yet because of all of the smoke in the area.
“Yesterday the helicopters were able to get up in the air but they didn’t do any suppression activity because it was too smoky by the afternoon. They set them down and pulled all our crews out.”
Dupont says the Kluskoil Lake fire was last estimated at 19,836 hectares and the Baezaeko Lake wildfire at around 182 thousand.
She says they need to get the message out that it is not safe to be in this area.
“It is important for people to understand that it’s still a very hazardous area and for people that are on evacuation order they should not go back to the order area. We have reports from the RCMP that people are going back in and they know that they are going in through back roads because they are obviously being blocked on certain roads but if they go back there and things get out of hand we will not know where they are.”
Dupont adds they hope to get the skimmers up in the air to help out today.
The Baezaeko River fire is approximately 110 kilometres west of Quesnel while the Kluskoil Lake wildfire is around the same distance from Quesnel to the northwest.
The evacuation route is Nazko Road to Quesnel.
Residents need to register at Emergency Support Services at 500 North Star Road, Quesnel.
Anyone who requires group lodging will head to the Emergency Reception Centre in Prince George at the Civic Centre at 808 Canada Games Way.
