Wildfire officials said crews responding to the Pear Lake wildfire in British Columbia’s southern Interior had to rescue a person who had defied an evacuation order.
Several evacuation orders and alerts remain in place for hundreds of properties along Highway 97, including the communities of Clinton and 70 Mile House, as the wildfire remains out of control.
The B.C. Wildfire Service says close to 670 square kilometres have been burned so far.
Officials said in an update Wednesday that first responders helped extract a person from an area under an evacuation order, after fire activity prevented him from leaving his property on Tuesday.
Bryce Moreira, incident commander for the wildfire complex, said crews advised the person to leave his property as the fire approached in the Chasm area, north of Clinton.
“I won’t repeat exactly what he said, but it was not a nice way and quite explicit,” said Moreira.
Moreira said crews left to continue their work elsewhere but were later called back when the person’s property was surrounded by fire.
He said everyone was able to get out safely, but the incident shows the importance of following evacuation orders.
“When those crews needed to go rescue that person, it took them away from their ability to respond to the fire in the area and protect other values on the landscape, people’s structures and homes,” said Moreira.
Officials said teams have been in Clinton and surrounding areas to assess the damage, and impacted property owners will be contacted in the coming days.
They said the Thompson-Nicola Regional District (TNRD) is working on a re-entry plan for Clinton residents, including removal of debris and spoiled food.
BC Hydro officials said the wildfires have caused extensive damage to power infrastructure in the region, and about 1,200 customers were without power.
“We have unprecedented damage in the region to the grid network of the transmission system,” said Gregg Jackson, senior distribution field operations manager with B.C. Hydro.
He said hundreds of B.C. Hydro structures have been destroyed, including close to 500 poles, and they are expecting more damage as the fire continues to grow.
Jackson said crews are focused on establishing basic grid service within Clinton and critical infrastructure, like water and sewage treatment, before expanding their efforts beyond the village.
He said it was still too early to provide an exact timeline for power restoration.
The B.C. Wildfire Service said there is potential for increased fire behaviour Thursday, due to ongoing drought conditions and with sunny weather in the forecast.
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