http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-wildfire-100-mile-house-evacuated-1.419726510,000 evacuees and counting: How B.C.'s wildfire fight took a turn for the worseChanging winds can help efforts on one front and hurt on another
7/10/17
You can have as many firefighters as you want and the best technology possible, but on a dry day, there are three simple words that can dramatically change any wildfire situation for the worse.
"The wind changed," said Al Richmond.
The chair of Cariboo's Regional District, Richmond has been watching over the majority of wildfires being fought across the Interior of British Columbia.
For most of Saturday and Sunday, there were plenty of new alerts and small tactical evacuations, but large-scale evacuations weren't necessary. The wildfires were burning away from urban centres.
Sunday afternoon, the wind changed and, hours later, the entire town of 100 Mile House was placed under an evacuation order, with flames less than a kilometre away, and pushing the total number of people under evacuation orders in B.C. to over 10,000.
"I didn't worry at all, until somebody said the wind was picking up," said resident Tatiana Ruiz.
"We were at home watching movies, and all of a sudden, they're knocking on the door. We packed up our stuff in two, three minutes."
Flames visible above the tree line. This is the view at the roadblock on Hwy 97 north of 100 mile house #cbc #bcfires pic.twitter.com/RJoh9O0XeU
— @briarstewart
'We're ready'
Ruiz, her family, and close to 2,000 other people drove through the middle of the night, blocked from travelling directly north or south because of the closure of the major highway that goes through town.
Instead, they were forced to head east on a rural two-lane highway, and then asked to add another four hours to their journey by heading north to Prince George instead of south to Kamloops.
The reason? Kamloops already has thousands of evacuees using emergency services because of other wildfires further south, while Prince George still has plenty of capacity.
"We're ready," said Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall.
"If we fill up the College of New Caledonia then we have other locations that we'll move into. If we fill those up we have other locations that we'll move into."
INFO FOR THOSE EVACUATED BY FOREST FIRES from @CityofPG. Register at CNC gym. #CityOfPG #mycnc pic.twitter.com/rpwIxIj3F2
— @cnc_bc_ca
A multi-front fight
It speaks to the unique challenge firefighters and emergency officials are facing: There isn't one wildfire.
Instead, there are around a dozen fires of concern over a 500-kilometre stretch in the centre of the province, from Princeton to Quesnel. Each blaze affects a different mix of towns, Indigenous communities and highways.
"As these fires rage, we are making decisions on the fly every day, every hour of every day, and changing those decisions sometimes in terms of priorities every day as well," said outgoing premier Christy Clark.
Friday, the priority was near 108 Mile Ranch until a fire near Cache Creek exploded and destroyed a mobile home community and much of the Ashcroft Indian Reserve.
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