Rainy days and cold nights. Fall has certainly arrived in the Cariboo Chilcotin and with it, the lifting of all evacuations and alerts within the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) and increased containment of wildfires.
The CRD lifted the evacuation alert for Kluskus, Blackwater, Clisbako and Nazko areas Monday.
The last evacuation alert to remain in the CRD along the Highway 24 corridor due to the Elephant Hill fire was given the all clear Wednesday.
All told, the CRD issued 149 orders and alerts since July 6 in the district which affected 37,000 residents, about 25,000 of those placed on a full evacuation order.
In total, 48,100 square kilometres was impacted by the wildfire emergency.
Meanwhile, in the Cariboo Fire Centre, only the Kleena Kleene fire and Plateau fire are still listed as fires of note.
The Kleena Kleene fire is approximately 25,557 hectares in size and remains active.
It was one of the many fires caused by dry lightning on July 7 and currently has 99 firefighters, three helicopters and 14 pieces of heavy equipment on mop-up efforts and guard work.
The Plateau fire, which is made up of the Chezacut, Tautri, Bishop’s Bluff, Baezaeko, Wentworth Creek, Arc Mountain and other fires, was also caused by lightning and discovered July 7. It merged into one, record-breaking fire, managed by two incident management teams, one located at Puntzi and one west of Quesnel.
“The fire has been very quiet, not grown recently and the majority of the work our crews are doing on that fire at the moment are targeting hotspots, patrolling to identify additional hot spots and pulling back equipment where it’s not needed,” said Cariboo Fire Centre information officer Natasha Broznitsky of the Plateau fire.
Currently there are 196 firefighters, seven helicopters and 24 pieces of heavy equipment working the Plateau fire.
While campfires have been allowed again throughout Northern B.C. and most recently the Coastal Fire Centre, restrictions on campfires are still in place in the Cariboo Chilcotin.
Effective noon Wednesday, however, off-road vehicles vehicles will once again be permitted on Crown land throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre, Kamloops Fire Centre and Southeast Fire Centre.
Cooler, cloudy days and near-freezing nights are in the forecast for the next seven days, according to Environment Canada.
