REVELSTOKE - As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asking Canadians to donate to the Red Cross to help fire ravaged communities and families in British Columbia, the residents of a tiny Caribou community of Clinton received orders to leave their homes.
Clinton, located about 447 kilometres south of Prince George, received the order Saturday evening, forcing people from their homes due to fire threats.
Evacuation alerts for residents of 100 Mile House were lifted Saturday, but a flurry of evacuation orders were issued late Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
Seventy-five kilometres to the north of 100 Mile House, residents of the village Clinton and surrounding areas were forced from their homes because of the flames were “rapidly moving”.
The Cariboo Regional District has also issued an expanded evacuation order for the Clisbako area, about 100 kilometres west of Quesnel. It also issued an evacuation alert for a region south of Highway 24, north of the Green Lake area that is under an evacuatio order.
Meanwhile, Williams Lake residents have been returning to their homes over the past few days after being ordered to leave about two weeks ago.
Trudeau, who was in Revelstoke in B.C.'s southeast, said he was preparing to travel to several B.C. communities hit by the fires this summer.
“I'll be travelling myself to some of the affected areas in the coming days to see the extent of the damage,” he said. “But mostly to thank the extraordinary first responders who work tirelessly and long, long hours, days and weeks to save our homes, to protect our communities.”
Trudeau said a text message to the Red Cross will result in a $10 donation to fire relief.
“Those of us who know B.C., love B.C., and we want to do what we can to help,” he said. “That's just who we are as Canadians. We help out our neighbours. We look out for our friends. We lend a hand in tough times.”
Officials fear high temperatures and a chance for lightning could increase fire activity.
Environment Canada forecasts rising temperatures up to and above 30 degrees Celsius for the southern Interior in the coming week, and the BC Wildfire Service has said the forests are much more dry than normal.
Chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek said there is no rain in the foreseeable future for the southern parts of the province and there's a chance a sub-tropic weather system could bring lightning later in the week.
“To have that lightning arrive on Thursday, which is what the forecast is indicating right now, could make for a very dangerous situation out there in terms of new fires starting,” he said.
Chris Duffy with Emergency Management BC said that roughly 3,700 people remain displaced by the remaining 18 evacuation orders in the province, down significantly from the tens of thousands that were forced from their homes earlier this month.
Crews are still responding to the 148 fires burning across the province, an effort Skrepnek said has become more challenging in some areas with people returning home.
“We've had multiple incidents with folks accessing areas where we're in the midst of fighting fire,” he said.
Issues include people using off road vehicles in areas that crews are working and some people are boating on lakes that helicopters and water skimming aircraft must access.
“I don't think they're intentionally trying to impede operations, and I think what it could be in many situations is just ignorance of how large these fires are and how expansive our operations have become,” he said, adding some fires are more than 1,000 square kilometres in size.
Skrepnek said the wildfire service has the authority to close off areas near fire sites if these problems persist.
Incidents of vandalism and stolen equipment such as water pumps and hoses have also been an issue and Skrepnek said the wildfire service is working with RCMP to resolve the problem.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Annie Linteau said no arrests have been made for interfering with wildfire operations, although some fines have been issued to people caught breaking campfire bans and other restrictions.
The province has seen 810 fires this season, costing the wildfire service $166.7 million since April 1.
