City of Prince George prepared for wildfire evacuees

On Tuesday night, an evacuation order was put in place for just North of Fort St. James. Around 60 people from the Yekooche First Nations are now staying in Prince George.

“We left a couple of members to gather everyone in the community – we did a headcount and then arranged for one vehicle to be the last one out of the community. Then we got ahold of two buses to come to Fort St. James to meet members and transport them to Prince George,” said Councillor for Yekooche First Nations, Partner Schielke.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 309 fires burning in the Province. A considerable number of those are within the Prince George Fire Centre.

“We currently have eight fires of note – the largest fire is the Cutoff Creek Wildfire in the Vanderhoof zone. It has grown to 13, 900 hectares,” said Communications Specialist for the Prince George Fire Centre, Sharon Nickel.

The PG Fire Centre has been busy over the past couple of weeks, and out of province crews have now arrived to help.

“Resources provincially are tight. As they become available they are deployed to areas of the most concern and the most urgency. We did receive support from Alberta [on Wednesday]. We received four crews in – 16 personal,” said Nickel.

Nickel emphasized that the community should prepare themselves and their properties during wildfire season.

“We encourage the public to head to our Fire Smart BC website. On there, there is information on preparing your emergency plans and go bag. There is a lot of resources on tips and tricks on how to help protect your home and property against wildfire,” continued Nickel.

If you do see a fire you are asked to report it immediately to bc wildfire services.

by Taya Fast

City of Prince George prepared for wildfire evacuees

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