Less than 24 hours after a convoy challenged RCMP officers guarding an evacuation zone in the Shuswap area, the BC Wildfire Service is calling for “continued support” from the community.
The Bush Creek East wildfire has now swollen to more than 43,000 hectares in size, challenging crews with its unusual shape, with arms branching off on both side of the Adams and Shuswap lakes.
On Wednesday night, a group of residents — some with trucks — travelled to a police checkpoint on Highway 1 by Sorrento, with the apparent goal of “dismantling” the checkpoint and delivering supplies to people on the other side who refused to evacuate.
Some wildfire crews were forced to temporarily abandon their nearby firefighting posts due to the “potential safety risk,” according to the provincial government.
“We know this is not the result of most people in North Shuswap,” BC Wildfire Service public information officer Forrest Tower said in a Thursday briefing. “What I really ask for is continued support of the community to keep everyone safe.”
Tower said the BC Wildfire Service shares common goals with the public: safety for everyone and the containment of the Bush Creek East fire, in that order.
The wildfire service and incident management team met with with community members on Thursday morning, he added, in a “collaborative” approach that all are “fully committed” to.
“We want to continue working all areas of this fire,” Tower said.
Crews resumed operational activities on Thursday, with a focus on the Shuswap Lake area, Loakin Valley and Turtle Valley. With clearer skies, helicopters are in the air bucketing and mapping out the flames.
While the fire is not challenging containment lines currently, Tower warned that the road to controlling it is still long, with “very high drought conditions” persisting.
“We will both continue to experience — and are experiencing in some areas on this fire — pretty heightened fire activity,” Tower said. “The intensity that the Brush Creek East fire was burning at … it was such of high intensity that was burning deep into the ground.
“That means that our wildlife firefighters have a lot of work ahead of them in terms of ensuring that the further spread of this fire is really limited, and it requires a lot of groundwork.”
The BC Wildfire Service will be conducting controlled burns against the Bush Creek East fire. That poses a risk to public safety, making it critical that the service remain in radio contact with others in the area, Tower said.
“It’s quite dangerous if there are people that we don’t know where they are. There’s a lot of wildfire hazards in some areas still … this is not uncommon when we deal with large events like this.”
BC Hydro is still working to remove downed power lines in ditches and on roadways, while other crews are working to clear debris.
“There’s a lot of stuff happening that isn’t directly related to wildfire threat. It’s very important to recognize that,” Tower added.
“I would just like to stress that everyone is trying their best and I am going to extend that to the community in North Shuswap. I know everyone is trying their best to work towards the same goal as us.”
Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo said he was “heartened” by the fact that the wildfire service and local fire departments appear to be “embracing” and collaborating with the residents who have stayed behind to focus on “enemy number one, the wildfire.”
It is their right to remain on their properties, he added.
“A lot of folks on the ground have a lot of experience with heavy equipment operation and otherwise,” he told Global News.
“These are very resilient, highly skilled individuals in the area and they’ve largely taken up arms to battle the fire and protect their properties and ranches in the community.”
Following Wednesday night’s confrontation, Kyllo added, there needs to be a “bit of a reset.”
“I think things are on a much better level now than they have been, say on Saturday and Sunday, in the heat of the moment.”
Many North Shuswap residents were “really upset and disappointed” in the convoy activities, which attempted to “highjack the messaging,” he added.
“The message is really clear. We are certainly encouraging everybody to honour and respect the roadblocks that are in place and certainly not to in any shape or form, engage with the RCMP.”
The RCMP, meanwhile, reminded residents that checkpoints around evacuation zones are legal and not determined by police, but where the wildfire service dictates they are needed to protect public safety.
“It can be frustrating for everybody, including us, because these checkpoints and these areas are constantly changing,” Cpl. James Grandy said in an interview. “We get that frustration but communication and patience is all very important and we understand that.”
No one was arrested during Wednesday night’s confrontation and the matter was resolved peacefully.
“Having a checkpoint like that provides security for residents, and their property, who have left the area,” Grandy said. “We can’t have just anybody — people from outside of the area — coming and going, walking around, driving around in that area. We can’t do our jobs.”
Tower said the BC Wildfire Service is constantly re-evaluating its operational plans based on new information about fire behaviour.
Kyllo said he looks forward to more collaboration between first responders and residents who have stayed behind to support the firefight, and to more information on on temporary access permits so residents can bring additional supplies into communities.
— with files from Troy Charles