Mayor of Hudson’s Hope, evacuated due to wildfire, says she’s never seen it so bad

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – You’ll notice temperatures returning to normal across Metro Vancouver today, but the cool-down will not be enough to ease the threat to our forests.

More than 100 wildfires continue to burn across BC and while some are only about 100 hectares in size, the largest are massive.

Some people have already been forced to pack up and get out, while others are keeping a watchful eye and getting ready to leave at a moment’s notice.

More than 1,000 people in Hudson’s Hope, near Chetwynd in the province’s northeast, spent the night in an emergency centre in Fort St. John after sirens told them it was time to go yesterday.

The fire in that area is 20,000 hectares in size. It’s zero per cent contained and doubled in about 24 hours.

Gwen Johansson is the community’s mayor. She says there’s no sense of panic, adding the people in Hudson’s Hope have a workmen-like attitude, doing the things that need to be done.

The community was ordered to evacuate yesterday, which Johansson says went very well.

“The volunteer fire department is still in Hudson’s Hope and we have a number of crews that have come from our neighbours to assist. The ground search and rescue, I believe, are still here. The RCMP reinforcements are here and we have a forestry crew out here as well, so those people were helping with the evacuation yesterday and as far as I know, they’re still here,” says Johansson.

“I admire Hudson’s Hope people so much,” she adds. “There were things that needed to be done and so they’re done and they’ve quietly gone about their business, whether that meant moving on, or whether it meant that they had some job to do with the fire suppression team. They just reacted admirably well.”

Johannson says crews have been making sure they’re prepared if the fire should jump across the Peace River.

“We’ve been doing the best we can, so that if it does come into an area where we would be able to access it… it’s protection of the community that they’re looking at.  And we will deal with each thing one bit at a time, and just react to the situation that we have in front of us, that’s what we can do.”

Many people in the community headed to an emergency evacuation centre in Fort St. John, but Johansson is still in Hudson’s Hope.

News1130 spoke with  a man who works at a gas station in Hudson’s Hope. He says he’s only still there because he needs to provide gas to emergency crews. He adds once crews are gone, he’s leaving too. In fact, he was too busy to do an interview with us because he needed to make sure crews had what they needed.

The fire near Hudson’s Hope is 20,000 hectares in size, but it isn’t even the biggest in the province. One southeast of Tumbler Ridge is more than 33,000 hectares.

There are more than 100 fires burning in BC altogether. Campfires have been banned in many parts of the province, including the Cariboo and Kamloops regions.

An evacuation order is in place for the 30-35 properties near the Coquihalla Summit. The region was previously under an alert.

Meanwhile, an evacuation alert has been issued for Princeton-Summerland roadways due to the Jura wildfire.