British Columbia wildfires: Emotions run high as fires threaten cities

As the province enters the midst of wildfire season, communities in British Columbia threatened by the flames are under extreme stress and facing a range of emotions, including the uncertainty of whether to flee their homes and whether they will have anywhere to return.

When a surprise fire broke out on the edge of Williams Lake, damaging an industrial building, municipal firefighters and state wildland fire crews rushed to the scene of what has been dubbed the River Valley Fire. The blaze is contained at 100 acres but still classified as out of control.

Mayor Surinderpal Rathor found it difficult to describe what he felt as he watched planes fire rounds of rust-colored fire retardant at buildings just a stone’s throw from homes as police carried out tactical evacuations late Sunday afternoon.

“It’s hard to explain, my friend, what went through my mind,” he said in a virtual interview with CTV News. “Devastating is the only word I can think of when I see that — in my 50 years of living in the community, I’ve never seen such an aggressive fire.”

A few hours south of his community, about 50 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway was closed due to the Shetland Creek fire, and more communities in the Fraser Canyon were evacuated due to the wildfires.

“It’s very stressful, this is our third major fire since 2017 and the third time the town has been on alert,” Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden said. “We just have to cross our fingers and hope we stay out of harm’s way.”

Her fire chief, Josh White, and his team are on high alert and are deeply impressed by the “amazing job” the BC Wildfire Service has done in keeping the flames away from their community.

For the evacuees, the kindness of neighbors and strangers counterbalanced the fear of running for their lives and not knowing when they would be able to return.

“It’s like an emotional rollercoaster, you’re up, you’re down,” said Nandini Villeneuve, who was forced to leave her home on Friday. “When we looked back, we saw flames everywhere.”