The Canadian military is being deployed to assist firefighters battling wildfires in the central Interior.
Vanderhoof is expecting the arrival of 75 soldiers from Canadian Forces Base Edmonton today and another 75 are due to arrive in Burns Lake on Wednesday. Two helicopters will also be deployed to assist in evacuations from communities threatened by the fires.
Staff from the Canadian Coast Guard will also be on the scene to set up command in Vanderhoof and Burns Lake.
“Canadian Armed Forces arrived in B.C. on Sunday to begin assessment and co-ordination of resources," said Bowinn Ma, B.C’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, in a Tuesday media conference in Vancouver. "The Canadian Armed Forces will be directly involved with fighting fires and the Canadian Coast Guard will support the management, operations and administrative activities of the BC Wildfire Service’s incident command post.”
There are close to 150 people in the province under evacuation orders and about 3,400 people under evacuation alerts, mostly in the Northwest, Northeast and Cariboo fire centres. Evacuees must register at an Emergency Support Services reception centre to receive accommodation, transportation and food vouchers.
It is now possible to preregister for support services online at ess.gov.bc.ca.
