An evacuation order for the Downton Lake wildfire was expanded Friday afternoon and appears to be overlapping with a second fire’s evacuation order, the Casper Creek wildfire.
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District expanded its Friday order to include all properties inside Electoral Area A that are west of Terzaghi Dam.
This includes all properties at Gun Lake, Lajoie Lake, Slim Creek, Marshall Lake, north of Carpenter Lake, Gold Bridge, Brexton, Bralorne, Tyaughton Lake, and Gun Creek Road areas.
The regional district implores residents to immediately leave the affected areas and evacuate south via the Hurley River Forest Service Road. It should be noted that Lillooet-Pioneer Road 40 is closed at the Terzaghi Dam.
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If emergency accommodations are required, community members are required to register at Mickey McDougall Recreation Centre at 240 East 23rd Street in North Vancouver and can call 778-338-6305 for assistance.
They are also asked to pre-register with Emergency Support Services online.
Community members who need transportation assistance can call the regional district on-call duty manager at 604-356-3082. RCMP officers are assisting in the evacuations.
The Downton Lake wildfire, which is burning roughly 10 kilometres west of Gold Bridge and roughly 80 km north of Pemberton, is an estimated 2,603 hectares.
It is a wildfire of note, burning out of control. There are 88 firefighters and 11 helicopters in the area battling the blaze.
It is suspected to have been caused by lightning.
Very close by, the Casper Creek wildfire is also burning out of control.
It is located around 24 km west of Lillooet, above Carpenter and Seton Lake.
In a Friday press conference, BC Wildfire officials said that fire has jumped Carpenter Lake and Route 40.
“We had one of our fires in that complex jump Carpenter Lake and Road 40, which is the one access egress route, main transportation corridors into Gold Bridge, which is now under an evacuation order,” Cliff Chapman said, BC Wildfire Service’s director of provincial operations.
When a fire “jumps” it is described as floating embers igniting secondary fires.
The Casper Creek wildfire is an estimated 6,520 hectares and has its own evacuation order.
The areas under evacuation order are: 9000 Mission Mountain Road, 9200 Mission River Road, District Lot 951 (except Parcel A, and Part 6.02 Acre) District Lot 2423 Lillooet District, District Lot 5390 Lillooet District, Lot 1 District Lot 5390 Lillooet District Plan and District Lot 2422 Lillooet District. See the map below.
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