Return plan underway for 4,700 people who evacuated Fort Nelson during wildfire

Thousands of residents could soon return to Fort Nelson after the Parker Lake wildfire forced them out of their homes.

Rob Fraser, Mayor of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality told CityNews that a return plan is now underway for approximately 4,700 people who left the area following an evacuation alert on May 11.

He says BC hydro crews have restored power to all properties in Fort Nelson, except the 10 that were damaged by wildfires. Fortis BC is also working actively to get the natural gas back up and running since it had to be shut off.

“Water and sewer is up and running and we’re starting to see some of the essential services, like the hospital making a plan, the clinic making a plan,” said Fraser.

Fraser says his municipality will contact the owners of essential businesses like grocery stores and gas stations to return ahead of most residents.

“The critical businesses like the IGA and Save On Foods grocery stores have crews in town and they’re working diligently to get their stores up.”

He says crews are now in phase two of the four-step plan to bring people back to their homes. If all goes according to plan, he estimates it’ll take about two weeks before people can come back.

“Phase two is the biggest phase, that’s where we’re getting all of our utilities and our critical businesses up to speed,” he said. “We’re in the mid to latter stages of that now that many of those companies are in town and working hard.”

Fraser says phase three is notifying other businesses in town so that they can prepare themselves and phase four is bringing the community back.

“I would like people to be patient,” he said. “You’ve got a really dedicated team of people that are doing everything to get you back home as quickly as we can.”

He says people are anxious and impatient to return home because they are not seeing any more smoke.

“There’s a health and safety process that we have to go through to make sure that the community is healthy for people,” he said. “

He says the two fires complicated the situation, but not enough that crews can’t continue with their return plan.

Finally, the mayor says the biggest thing that could interrupt the return would be bad weather that could move the fire towards the community.

However, earlier this week, the BC Wildfire Service told CityNews that cooler, wetter conditions over the long weekend allowed crews to make progress fighting the big fires.