The Cariboo Regional District and the local Municipalities are supporting a resolution by Quesnel Counsellor Ron Paull calling for stiffer penalties for criminal elements who are charged with offenses relating to evacuated areas.
There were several incidences of looting and other crimes during last years wildfires, and CRD chair Margo Wagner sums up the reasons behind the resolution by saying that people who are being evacuated have enough to worry about without also worrying about “being taken advantage of by these despicable people”.
Several instances looting, and of individuals approaching homes and telling the residents that an evacuation order had been called and they were to leave immediately were reported during the fires. It was an attempt to clear a house out in order to break in and rob it.