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93 firefighters deployed to battle wildfires in Cariboo Fire Centre

BC Wildfire Service says around 93 firefighters are on scene battling around 26 fires in the northeast portion of the Cariboo - including the Cornish Mountain wildfire.
wells-wildfire
Smoke rises from the site of the Cornish Mountain wildfire on Thursday, July 11. (Ed Coleman photo)

BC Wildfire Service has deployed 93 firefighters to battle the 26 wildfires in the northeast portion of the Cariboo Fire Centre. 

Around 52 of the 93 active firefighters and six pieces of heavy equipment have been deployed to the Cornish Mountain Wildfire alone, which is currently a 70-hectare fire located five kilometers north of Jack of Clubs Lake. The wildfire has prompted an evacuation order for the Eight Mile Lake, Nine Mile Lake and Cornish Lake areas in the District of Wells. 

Additional evacuation alerts have been put in place for the Barkerville-Cornish Mountain fire area, as well as most of the District of Wells. The District of Wells declared a state of local emergency on Wednesday, July 10. 

It should be noted that an evacuation alert is where people are advised to "be ready to leave on short notice" while an evacuation order is where people are advised to "leave the area immediately" as they are at risk, according to the BC government. 

In addition to the 93 firefighters on the ground, the Cariboo Fire Centre is utilizing air resources, according to fire information officer Jessica Mack. 

"We do have firefighters, aircraft, air tankers, we do have a skimmer group, which is our planes that go into water and put that onto any incidents that we have in our area," Mack stated.

Mack noted the BC Wildlife Service is also conducting air patrols to detect additional wildfires. The majority of the fires currently burning in the Cariboo were caused by dry lightning earlier this week.  

A campfire ban for the entire Cariboo Fire Centre is going into effect on Friday, July 12 at noon. 

The BC government is urging people to download the BCWS mobile app that has all the up-to-date information on the wildfires - which is available on the Apple and Android mobile app stores.

 

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About the Author: Misha Mustaqeem

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