CRD Issues Changes to orders and alerts in northwest Cariboo areas

Some evacuation orders have been downgraded to alerts or all clear in the northwest Cariboo according to the Cariboo Regional District.

“It’s certainly been a lot of work for us and we are happy to open up a lot of travel routes,” said public information officer Tim Conrad.

“Around 23,000 hectares are now all clear along with lots of areas downgraded from order to alert or even order to all clear. So we’ve made a significant number of changes in the Northwest Cariboo all the way from Narcosli right out to the Anahim Lake area.”

The areas that have evacuation orders lifted or downgraded to alert impacting 916 properties include:

• Itcha Ilgachuz Provincial Park
• North western CRD boundary to west of Nazko
• Dean River Valley area
• Electoral Area I boundary west to Michelle Bazaeko FSR area
• North western CRD boundary to west of Nazko

View the following maps to see the revised order and alert areas:

• PDF Map: https://bit.ly/2POWmIA
• Online interactive map: https://bit.ly/2tcpS1e (there may be a delay before the map is updated)

Evacuation orders impacting 467 properties currently remain in place for:

• Tweedsmuir Park area
• Shag Creek area
• Chutanli Lake area
• Bazaeko Blackwater area

Evacuation alerts remain in place for the following areas, impacting 1,748 properties:

• Dean River Valley area
• Tatelkuz Lake area
• North of Batnuni Road area
• Nazko area
• Narcosli Creek area

Conrad says while the CRD is still trying to confirm the location and further details, they do have reports of some properties having been destroyed.

There are currently 49 active wildfires within the Cariboo Fire Centre.

“The fire danger rating is ‘high’ with pockets of ‘extreme’ west of Puntzi and ‘moderate’ between Puntzi and Highway 97,” BC Wildfire Service said on Wednesday.

“East of Highway 97 is generally ‘low’ with pockets of ‘moderate’ and ‘very low’.”