By Cheryl Jahn

Antler Creek fire still threatens Wells and Barkerville

Jul 23, 2024 | 3:16 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – The monster wildfire, as it has been referred to, southwest of Wells and Barkerville is not showing signs of abating, though Mother Nature is cooperating. A bit.

But for the Chair of the Board for the Heritage Site that is Barkerville, this is not a comfortable place to be right now, especially with that fire reaching within three kilometres of the community. But efforts to date have seemed to help.

“We’ve got ash and we’ve got debris coming down on the site,” says Al Richmond, Chair of the Barkerville Board. “But with the sprinklers that were provided, the funding required this year by the ministry to put the sprinklers on the buildings to protect them in the event of something like this, with those being installed and the additional sprinkler protection units that have been brought in by B.C. Wildfire, the site is fairly damp.”

The Minister for Emergency Management says she is acutely aware of the Antler Creek fire and has no trouble throwing whatever resources are necessary to curb its progress.

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“When it comes to responding to emergencies, both the B.C. wildfire service and the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness is able to to spend whatever it takes to respond,” says Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management. “Now, sometimes the challenge is not money, it is access to physical people and physical assets.”

And while BC Wildfire has struggled to get a full picture of the blaze due to smoke in the area, Al Richmond says he is confident.

“I think there’s a bit of a sigh of relief, but a lot of apprehension at the same time, optimistic that maybe there is some light at the end of the tunnel found and we have to rely on those Folks from the B.C. Wildfire Service are really getting their jobs done to figure out how to deal with this,” says Richmond .

A new incident command team will be on-site to relieve those currently on site.