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VIDEO: West Fraser Road opened at Rudy Johnson Bridge

Cariboo Regional District has downgraded evacuation orders for the West Fraser Road at the Rudy Johnson Bridge and at Nimpo and Anahim Lake.
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Monica Lamb-Yorski photo. CRD Chair Al Richmond pores over a map depicting the current fires in the region Wednesday. Richmond said it has been good to finally downgrade some of the evacuation orders to alerts in the last few days.

Two more evacuation orders were downgraded to alerts Wednesday by the Cariboo Regional District.

“Today was a good day for us,” CRD chair Al Richmond told the Tribune. “We managed to get rid of some red on our maps and get some folks home to Anahim and Nimpo Lake. We’ve also opened up the West Fraser Road from the Rudy Johnson Bridge going north to Quesnel.”

The biggest impact to the Anahim and Nimpo Lake areas was the closure of Highway 20, Richmond said.

“It’s still a challenge at Kleena Kleene because there is active fire there so they are actually piloting people through that area. There are scheduled pilot cars going east and west from the Kleena Kleene portion through to Anahim Lake because the Ulkatcho First Nation still has their order on.”

As of Wednesday, the Kleena Kleene fire is estimated to be 8,777 hectares.

Throughout the wildfire season knowing when to close and open roads has been a challenge, Richmond said.

“Those of us who live in the Cariboo are used to backcountry roads or even a road like Highway 20 where you can see fires and different things, but when you open up a road it has to be safe to the public. I had a person say to me ‘it wasn’t safe because there was fire on the side of the road.’ It all depends on your comfort level and fire puts fear in many people’s hearts — and rightly so — it’s better to be cautious and it’s a fine balance.”

With ferries coming into Bella Coola, many travellers will be hauling motor homes or trailers heading along Highway 20, he added.

“There could be a variety of people not familiar with that type of road, let alone with the smoke and potentially small fires on the side of the road from time to time. It’s difficult. If it was black and white it would be so much easier.”

As the next few days unfold, the Cariboo Regional District will continue to concentrate on trying to reduce the impacts of the evacuation alerts and orders, Richmond said.

“We will be seeing if there is any ability to bring some of those down so that people are back to a more normal situation and not having to be under a high state of readiness. In the rural areas we do have fires in closer proximity than the city of Williams Lake does so we are working with the ministry to look at opportunities to further reduce our alert areas. But imminently we do not see areas currently under evacuation order coming off.”

The Elephant Hill fire, estimated at 168,000 hectares remains active and impacts areas such as North Green Lake.

“From the point of view of the Cariboo Fire Centre (CFC) they are not prepared at this time to recommend we remove that order. We do meet daily with the CFC to see where are the fires, what’s changed overnight, and what can we do to make it better for people to get home.”



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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