Update: Flat Lake Provincial Park is closed to the public following an evacuation alert issued for the area Sunday.
The lake joins several other provincial parks in the South Cariboo that have been fully or partially closed to visitors due to nearby fires.
Update:
Canim Beach and Ruth Lake provincial parks are under evacuation alert due to the wildfire south of Canim Lake.
“In the interest of public safety, BC Parks is providing this notice to park visitors,” BC Parks said on its website. “In the event of changing wildfire conditions, visitors in this park may receive limited notice to evacuate.”
Updates for this park will be posted on this page and on the BC Parks Wildfire Updates summary page.
Visitors can still visit other provincial parks that remain unaffected by wildfires. Visit bcparks.ca.
Original story:
Several provincial parks in the South Cariboo have been fully or partially closed to visitors due to nearby fires.
Sunset View campground at Green Lake Provincial Park has been closed since Friday, July 2, due to the nearly 40,000-hectare Sparks Lake fire to the southeast. That fire has also forced the closure of Crater Lake Provincial Park and Chasm Provincial Park.
Edge Hills Provincial Park and Downing Provincial park at Kelly Lake, both west of Clinton, were also closed late last week due to the 22,439-hectare McKay Creek fire.
A 35-hectare wildfire near Howard Lake Recreation Site has also closed access to that location to the public.
Anna Francoeur, whose family was camping at Sunset View but moved to Little Arrowhead after they were told to leave, said they could see the two fires across the lake.
“We were watching the floater planes all day, that was phenomenal,” she said. “They’d scoop in, grab their water and up they’d go, it was just like watching a circus act,” she said.
Brendan Young, who was camping at Green Lake’s Emerald Bay campsite, said it was stressful watching the water bombers fly overhead all day Thursday to take water from the lake to fight the fires.
“When we got here it was a thunderstorm for five hours straight. Not every couple of seconds, it was constant, always rumbling,” Young said. “The next morning there were fires all over the place from the lightning.
“I just hope everyone stays safe, especially all summer. This is just the start if it’s going to stay hot and dry like this.”
Lisa Postnikoff, of Prince George, was camping at Sunset View with her friends and family when they got the order to evacuate last Friday, said there were only few tents and trailers in the park when they left.
“We’re getting pretty used to this,” she said. “This is B.C. and we have forest fires all the time.”
With a file from Melissa Smalley
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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