Wednesday July 21, 2021 | BC INTERIOR
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Due to worsening weather conditions that will possibly or likely lead to wildfires, today Premier John Horgan has asked people to “stay out of the back country unless you have a reason for being there”.
He was speaking this morning during a teleconference media session from Castlegar in the southeast area of the BC Interior.
Most of BC’s wildfire profile is in the BC central interior and southeast of the province, not in the north and not on Vancouver Island or near the Vancouver metropolitan area.
Finding accommodations for evacuees:
He articulated that the new BC State of Emergency (which began effective today) allows for the government to find and secure group accommodations to support any evacuation orders that might be imposed on householders and communities.
Otherwise, the equipment and resources for fighting wildfires were already in place, as already explained yesterday by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth.
Firefighters will be arriving from other jurisdictions — as is normally the case during the BC summer wildfire season. This year, again, that includes about 100 trained firefighters from Mexico who will be arriving this weekend. Others will arrive this summer from New Brunswick, and from as far away as Australia, said Premier Horgan today.
As for accommodating people in group areas due to evacuation, this summer there is the additional factor of dealing with potential COVID exposure. Today Horgan again urged people to be fully vaccinated.
Attentive travel plans:
The wildfire situation in the BC Interior is impacting many of the usual resort and holiday spots that British Columbians go to in the warm summer months.
The wildfire situation right now might change some people’s summer holiday travel plans. This is similar to the summers of 2017 and 2018 when BC also called a State of Emergency around the need for wildfire management support.
===== LINKS:
Emergency Info BC (BC Government)
BC Wildfire Stats & Map: keep up to date on the provincial wildfire situation