The City of Prince George’s Emergency Operations Centre has been activated as the City welcomes evacuees from the Chilcotin.
There are currently multiple wildfires burning in the western reaches of the Cariboo Fire Centre, which prompted a number of evacuation orders and alerts from the Cariboo Regional District last week.
“Despite the original estimate of about 750 to 1,000 people, we’ve actually only seen about 60 people come in over the weekend,” said Manager of Emergency Operations and EOC Director Tanya Spooner.
Spooner said on Monday they were expecting about 40 more people to arrive, mostly individuals who had spent the weekend in Williams Lake.
Spooner noted most of the evacuees who have come to Prince George came from the Ulkatcho First Nation.
Spooner said the Prince George EOC became aware of potential evacuations on Thursday.
“We actually did start to receive elders or vulnerable people on Thursday, and then we became aware that there would be an evacuation order issued Friday morning late on Thursday night,” she explained.
“Then we’ve seen additional orders throughout the weekend.”
Spooner noted Williams Lake and Kamloops did not have a lot of hotel accommodation available at this time.
“One of the things about Prince George is we are considered the largest host community in the northern part of the province,” she explained.
“Every year we’re sort of designated as, if something big happens, this will be the location people go to.”
Spooner noted this was the first significant evacuation of a community to Prince George this year, but noted the EOC was activated earlier this year to offer supports to hose affected by a fire at an apartment building on the 300 block of Killoren Crescent.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
