The Chair of the Cariboo Regional District says any assistance from the province and charitable organizations for our region is welcomed.
That is Margo Wagner’s reaction to the news that those who have been evacuated because of this year’s wildfires will be provided with some funding.
“We had approximately 2600 residents and property owners in the CRD that were impacted by the 13 evacuation orders that we put out so far this summer, and we recognize that it’s stressful and tough to be out of your home.”
Wagner says they are also hopeful that there will be more help for businesses.
“Whether businesses were on evacuation order or not, they have been severely impacted because of people concerned about coming into an alert area and there was mixed messaging from MOTI (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure) and from other people, as to whether you were allowed to travel into an alert area, and of course you can’t travel into an order area. And then combine that with the smoke.”
Wagner says they haven’t talked about lobbying the province for businesses yet, but she says that may happen once they start getting more into the recovery stage of the wildfires, hoping of course that there aren’t any more starts.
The province has announced $2,000 for households who’s primary residences have been severely affected by wildfires, and 12-hundred dollars for anyone that was under a mandatory evacuation order for more than 10 consecutive days.
Wagner says, unlike 2017, they haven’t lost any primary residences within the CRD so far this year.