TELEGRAPH CREEK (NEWS 1130) – This year’s record-breaking wildfire season is a distant memory for most, but three months later, some people in the north west are still homeless.
An entire community in B.C. – Telegraph Creek – is still virtually a ghost town. Almost 300 people are still not able to return home after this summer’s fire at Alkali Lake, one of the biggest fires in the province. Twenty one homes were destroyed in the tiny community, and others left standing are damaged by smoke.
The Tahltan Emergency Operations Centre says nearly 300 people have been out of their homes in northwestern BC for three months – and that's due to the summer's wildfires @NEWS1130
— Renee Bernard (@Renee1130) October 27, 2018
Feddie Louie is the director for the emergency operations centre for the Tahltan band, which oversees the settlement.
“No one has a good home in Telegraph Creek right now, and there’s not a bunch of hotels right next door,” she says. “Everybody’s out of the community with the exception of the people working to clean it up and re-build.”
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Crews are repairing the damaged homes and clearing debris. Evauees are staying in places like Terrace, which is 700 kilometres away.
The woman who runs the Tahltan Emergency Operations Centre in northwestern BC says evacuees have been patient, after 3 months out of their homes. The hope is they return before Christmas @NEWS1130
— Renee Bernard (@Renee1130) October 27, 2018
Now all they can do is wait.
“They understand the severity of the situation. They’ve been patient – yes they’d like to go ASAP – but we have to make sure that the community is safe and their health won’t be impacted when they do return home,” Louie says.
The hope is to have people back by Christmas.
