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Rock Creek fire evacuees anxious to go home

UPDATE: The Evacuation Order Order for parts of the Rock Creek Fire area has been downgraded to an Evacuation Alert as of Monday evening. Click here for a map of the the area now under Evacuation Alert. 

ROCK CREEK — Darlene Redlich has been displaced from her Christian Valley home for five days and is staying with friends in Midway.

“So here I am waiting to go home,” says Redlich as she sits at a local coffee shop.

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She’s grateful to generous residents in communities like Midway for helping evacuees feel at home.

“They welcomed us with opened arms so that was great,” she says.

The Rock Creek fire  has been burning since Thursday and has spread about 3750 hectares, forcing people in 242 households out of their homes. Another 88 households are on evacuation alert.

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But some people may not have a home to return to.

The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary says 29 nine homes have been destroyed and 11 other structures damaged.

The B.C. Wildfire Service says the Rock Creek fire remains the most dangerous and that another warm drying trend may increase fire behaviour.

“We are certainly not out of the woods quite yet. This is a very active and large wildfire. It’s uncontained at this time so we are asking people to be very aware of that. We need our crews to be able to get into the area and  do their work safely,” says Mike McCulley, a fire information officer.

 

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