An extreme fire warning sign is shown along Highway 97 toward Fort Nelson outside the Charlie Lake Fire Hall near Fort St. John, B.C., on May 13.Jesse Boily/The Canadian Press
Thousands of residents of Fort Nelson, B.C., have been allowed back to their homes after evacuating because of a threatening wildfire, bringing the community alive Monday with vehicles bustling through the streets and people making trips to the grocery store.
Rob Fraser, mayor of Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, which includes Fort Nelson, sat outside the municipality’s Resiliency Center on Monday afternoon and said people were stopping in to pick up cleaning supplies from the Red Cross to begin cleaning up their houses.
“We’re starting to see some activity around the community, people walking, and that’s starting to make me feel really good,” he said.
About 4,700 residents were forced to leave their homes in Fort Nelson on May 10, when strong winds pushed the Parker Lake wildfire within a few kilometres of the town.
On Sunday, both the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and Fort Nelson First Nation informed their residents that the evacuation order would be lifted on Monday at 8 a.m. Additionally, a joint evacuation alert would be issued upon the rescindment of the order.
“We were told by the wildfire service that the imminent threat from the fire was significantly reduced,” Mr. Fraser said. “We really were able to get our community the critical infrastructure and the services up to speed and utilities and that led us to a believe that we could bring the folks home safely today.”
The Parker Lake wildfire is burning within its own perimeter, and the BC Wildfire Service has the personnel on site to look after the edges of this blaze, according to Mr. Fraser. But if the fire starts to creep outside of its edges, there’s potential for it to become a problem again, he added.
“If we get long and hot weather with some wind, we could be right back in the same position that we were,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Patry Creek fire, about 25 kilometres north of Fort Nelson, is burning at 64,372 hectares, more than five times the size of the Parker Lake blaze. This fire, which is a holdover from last year’s record-breaking season, also poses a potential threat to the community, Mr. Fraser said.
The Parker Lake fire destroyed four homes and damaged six other properties in the area.
The municipality said several properties are not safe for the general public. An order is in place limiting access to those properties to only property owners, their designates or other permitted personnel.
Kylie Rawcliffe hit the road home from Pink Mountain, north of Fort St. John, Monday morning.
“Very exciting to be able to go home and get situated and get going back to work and my kids back to school. It was definitely a long two weeks,” she said.
Ms. Rawcliffe said that nine people from her family, along with four dogs, one cat and a lizard, all lived in one trailer for a couple of nights. After that, they were able to stay with a friend of hers in Dawson Creek for the rest of the time.
Ms. Rawcliffe said that she anticipates a challenging summer for the province’s north, so upon returning home, she plans to be better prepared in case of another evacuation. These preparations involve obtaining renter’s insurance and packing more necessities for a potentially extended stay.
“We are definitely still on alert and we probably will be for a while. You never think it was going to happen to you and it’s just way better to be prepared than to be panicky and stressed out,” she said.
Mr. Fraser said public meetings will be held next month, providing an opportunity to share experiences and identify areas for improvement. He said his municipality will continue work on its wildfire resiliency planning for around the community, as well as the FireSmart program that the province has to try to ensure that everybody’s property is looked after, inspected and cleaned up according to the principles of the program.
With a report from The Canadian Press