B.C. music festival organizer recounts wildfire evacuation near Princeton
Posted August 8, 2023 3:59 pm.
Last Updated August 8, 2023 4:01 pm.
A co-organizer of a music festival in B.C.’s Interior is recounting the moments when he and hundreds of others were forced to evacuate event grounds near Princeton over the weekend.
This year marked Chris Klatt’s second with the Under the Stars Music Festival.
He says he found out about the small but growing wildfire northwest of Princeton around 7 p.m. Sunday.
“It was scary for sure, definitely a scary little moment. But yeah, everyone on our team did amazing,” Klatt told CityNews.
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The fire that prompted the festival’s evacuation was sparked by a malfunctioning ATV. While it remained relatively small, the blaze grew quickly, forcing about 1,000 people at the event to leave the area.
“We actually had our food truck vendor girl see some smoke and she went up there and she saw that there were four ATV guys … She talked to the guy who actually crashed,” he explained.
Klatt says the ATV riders tried to put some of the flames out but weren’t able to. First responders were quickly informed, he adds.
“They came and they checked on us. They just wanted to make sure everyone was going to be safe and our exit road was going to be accessible to get out,” he recalled, adding it was at the discretion of police and fire crews that the festival grounds were evacuated.
“We were completely listening to them and what they wanted us to do — we were completely on board. We have a safety protocol as far as getting people out, keeping people calm,” Klatt said.
As of Tuesday morning, the fire near Princeton was listed at just over 15 hectares. The BC Wildfire Service says the fire is considered out of control, meaning it is “continuing to spread and is not responding to suppression efforts.”
Klatt says he and the other organizers were kept aware of the situation, including the fact the blaze was spreading.
“It was not out of control at that point,” he said, adding the call to evacuate was made out of an abundance of caution.
“Our main goal was to make sure everyone’s taken care of. We checked every tent and we made sure everyone took care of each other and proceeded to pack up as quickly as we could.”
Klatt says despite the concerns and tense moments, everything went smoothly.
“Everyone got out safe and that’s the main thing,” he said.
The Under the Stars Music Festival is a multi-day event with three stages on a farm near Princeton. Dozens of performers take part in the festival, which has been going for the past few years, according to Klatt.
As of Tuesday morning, there were more than 400 active wildfires across B.C., with nearly three dozen sparked Monday. Most of them were caused by lightning, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
