The Village of Fraser Lake and the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako have rescinded an evacuation alert for the Sam Ross Creek wildfire effective 2 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7 while the regional district by itself downgraded an evacuation order related to Wildfire G41285 south of Fraser Lake to an alert.
Both the order and the alert were issued on Monday, Aug. 4.
As previously reported by The Citizen, the Sam Ross Creek fire is located roughly 33 kilometres southeast of Burns Lake.
The evacuation alert covered part of Highway 16 as it crossed through the regional district’s Electoral Area E, extending as far south as the north shore of Francois Lake.
As of Aug. 7, the BC Wildfire Service listed the wildfire as seven hectares in size, but under control and not expected to expand beyond its current perimeter.
Wildfire G41285 is located south of Fraser Lake and Fort Fraser, with the evacuation order covering a portion of Electoral Area D that includes Dorman Lake, Tahultzu Lake and the northern tip of Hallet Lake. It was first discovered on Aug. 1.
The most recent update provided by BC Wildfire Service at 4:37 p.m. on Aug. 6 said this fire was 382.4 hectares in size and out of control.
About 10 minutes after the evacuation order related to Wildfire G421285 was rescinded, the regional district issued an evacuation alert for the same area.
An order requires residents to leave for their own safety while an alert warns residents that they may need to evacuate at any time.
There are still two active evacuation alerts in Bulkley-Nechako, one along the western bank of the Nechako River in Electoral Area D southeast of Fraser Lake and the other near the north shore of Trembleur Lake.
As of 2 p.m. on Aug. 7, there were 55 active fires in the Prince George Fire Centre according to the BC Wildfire Service.
Of those, 14 were considered out of control, 25 were being held and 16 were under control.
There were no active evacuation alerts or orders in the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George when this article was written.