British Columbia premiere Christie Clark visited Prince George on Friday to get a first-hand look and update on the raging wildfire, the earliest major forest fire seen in the province since 1983.
Clark is quoted as saying the wildfire is “alarming,” and is warning residents of a “bad forest fire season” this year. The blaze is 50 kilometers southwest of Prince George, B.C. The Wildfire Management Branch has nearly 200 firefighters, eight helicopters, and 22 pieces of equipment battling the blaze.
“There has not been a fire this big, this early in the year since 1983, and this fire’s bigger,” said Clark. She cited the dry winter the province has experienced and noted forecasters are expecting a dry summer ahead. Clark also talked about the number of trees killed by pine beetles in the forests.
“The bad end of that is that we’re going to have probably a very bad forest fire season,” Clark said. “So people need to be really, really careful this year.” She added, “I want to draw people’s attention to the impact that this fire and fires like this are going to happen all over the province.”
CBC is reporting that Bill Miller, chairman of the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, said local officials have put 700 to 800 families east of Prince George under evacuation alert. An additional 60 residences were under an evacuation order, but most of those were seasonal homes.
Neighboring Regional District, Fraser-Fort George put 130 residents under an evacuation order earlier this week, and an additional 122 residents are on alert. Information officer Renee McCloskey said, “You can see the smoke from town.” She also noted that accommodations were being made ready for additional evacuations.
Almost half of all wildfires in British Columbia are caused by people, and resources are unnecessarily tied up to deal with the problem. “It was $300 million dollars we spent last year putting out fires. If we keep on this track, it’s going to be more this year. And, you know, British Colombians aren’t giving us more money,” Clark pointed out.
