A wildfire burning in the mountains near Princeton has caused the Under the Stars music festival to be evacuated Sunday evening, according to officials.
Social Sound, which is one of the organizers of the event, told Global News the 5-day festival was being evacuated due to a fire, which is believed to be human caused.
Organizers also saying people were forced to evacuate with no time to pack belongings or vehicles.
The BC Wildfire Service reported the fire was just over one hectare in size as of 11:30 p.m.
BC Wildfire crews along with fire crews from Coalmont and Tulameen are responding to the fire near White Sands Beach, according to Princeton’s mayor Spencer Coyne.
But he says the area might not be able to take in more people as the area is pretty full over the long weekend.
“Because it is a long weekend, and this is a popular destination for long weekends, we don’t have a lot of availability right now. Neither campsites nor hotels but our teams are looking for accommodations, if need be,” Coyne said late Sunday.
“We have some concerns right now with the amount of people that are in the area. So, our Emergency Support Services (ESS) team has is doing some preliminary work right now in case mass evacuations have to take place. There is no indication that’s going to happen.”
Coyne says one property is under evacuation order and festival organizers say the same site is being evacuated, adding the area has limited cell service.
On Twitter, user Daniel Gray, who works for the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, says as many as 1000 people are being evacuated due to a fire sparked from an ATV.
We’ve reached out to the province, the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, local fire, BC Emergency Health Services and the BC Wildfire Service for comment.