The Antler Creek wildfire that led to the evacuation of Wells and Barkerville is now 30 times the size of Stanley Park.
That is according to Wells Mayor Ed Coleman who said he received an update this (Wednesday) morning.
“The biggest thing for me was the actual size of the fire which was 14 thousand plus hectares (14.283) and what’s it’s perimeter looks like, the different valleys it has gone into, the different mountains it has climbed, how close it is to Wells and Barkerville, and then the impacts on the smoke on Bowron Lake, and any other companion fires that are in the Bowron Lake area, so just getting a sense of magnitude.”
Coleman added the fire is only around three kilometres from both Wells and Barkerville, which he stated “is way too close.”
He said a lot of resources are working on it.
“We’ve got a level 1 incident command team that came in yesterday to take this project over, lots of water bombers, lots of helicopters, lots of bulldozers and excavators, and they’re just going at it hard. The smoke cleared enough that they can see what’s going on in a better way, and they’re applying all their expertise to this thing.”
Coleman was asked about the impact of these fires on tourism.
“It’s prime time tourism economy and it’s not helpful that folks had to leave under these circumstances. Definitely an economic hit for us but you know, just staying safe and we’re going to get through this together.”
Coleman said he is in Quesnel at its emergency operations centre at the Rec Centre.
“We have an emergency support services intake today where people are going to come in and get certified for another seven days of hotel and food and incidentals, so that’s really our focus today, so that’s processing 150 people through that process, and then making decisions with all the agencies from our emergency operations centre.”
He stated he’s note sure how long they will be evacuated.
“It just takes one wind event right, one wind event and it could be going all over the place. This thing is erratic, it’s all over the place. It’s all one fire, the Antler Creek fire and they’re calling it the Groundhog complex, but it’s gobbled up any other fires that have already occurred as well with lightning, and it’s one big fire now.”
Residents were evacuated on Sunday (July 21).
With files from George Henderson mycariboonow
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