An important meeting on the 2018 BC Wildfire Crisis is set for Vanderhoof tonight at the local Friendship Centre.
The fire of biggest concern continues to be the Shovel Lake wildfire near Fraser Lake, which is now 68,000 hectares in size.
“That fire is leaning towards properties on the northern side of Fraser Lake, we’ve got some resources in place and strategies to deal with that. What we are looking more broadly is just providing information to the District of Vanderhoof,” says Matt Reeves, Fire Information Officer with the VanJam Fire Zone.
“It’s our chance to provide a fairly broad appraisal of the situation to the community to be able to answer some questions based on their individual circumstances and also to be able to share with them, what’s been happening on the fires and what our plans and strategies are.”
If people choose to leave any affected areas early, it may be due to a respiratory illness or children who have become anxious about the volume of smoke and fires in the area.
Reeves says if and when that happens, it’s best to relocate to someone you know.
“If you can relocate to friends and family, you’re going to be far more comfortable while you wait this out and if you don’t have friends or family in the vicinity to go and stay with, obviously there would be facilities that would be made available.”
Anyone who doesn’t have family living in Vanderhoof is being asked to head to the CN Centre in Prince George.
Other fires of note include the Chutanli Lake blaze just south of Vanderhoof at 10,591 hectares in size followed by the Island Lake Fire, south of Francois Lake burning at over 14,000 hectares.
Lastly, the Purvis Lake wildfire east of Takla Lake remains 15% contained and is 1,450 hectares.
The meeting kicks off at 7 PM from 219 Victoria Street.