Officials plead with B.C. residents to respect wildfire evacuation orders amid conflict in Shuswap
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says defying orders puts wildfire fight at risk
British Columbia's emergency management minister says people who are defying wildfire evacuation orders are putting at risk the "unified strategy" for battling the destructive blazes.
Bowinn Ma says the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) has "opened a dialogue" to understand why some are defying the orders, but the directives carry legal weight and defiance of them must end.
Ma has told a briefing Wednesday that if people stay behind, tactics such as aerial water-bombing and back-burning can't take place.
Some residents of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District in the Interior have been refusing to leave their properties, and officials say firefighting equipment there has been moved or tampered with.
Ma says that it's a divisive issue, but people "can't be doing their own thing" when it comes to wildfires.
She says areas under evacuation order are not safe places.
"Evacuation orders must be followed. They are not suggestions, they are the law," Ma said. "I know some people want to stay and fight. I understand that."
Ma said that British Columbians' "collective fight is against the wildfire," and should not be with each other.
North Shuswap resident Kyle Boppre offers a simple explanation when asked why he defied an evacuation order issued as a wildfire bore down on his neighbourhood.
"It's just, I guess, in my blood to fight," he said. "We were able to save our home."
Boppre and others in the small communities that dot the Shuswap region's waterfront felt like they were on their own, with no choice but to take the firefight into their own hands.
Most evacuation orders have been obeyed, but holdouts like Boppre and others stayed to fight the fires and believe the official response has been inadequate, incompetent, or non-existent.
It's not just officials who are unimpressed.
Trent Tucker, a professor at Thompson Rivers University, lost his home to the fires near Little Shuswap Lake.
He said it's entirely irresponsible for people to stay back in evacuation order zones, and he's "extremely upset" by stories "lionizing" those who have defied evacuation orders.
"Our home is completely gone and yet we have these dummies that stuck around behind and the news is treating them like some sort of heroes," he said.
"They got lucky it wasn't like the case in West Kelowna where people stayed back and then they had to get rescued behind fire lines by firefighters."
Boppre, who runs a marine maintenance and scuba diving business, said members of the community have local knowledge of the geography, but officials from outside don't seem to value it.
The community bonds are extremely strong among those who've stayed behind, Boppre said.
"We can't wait around for that help that's supposed to be here and watch our homes burn," he said. "If I did evacuate when they wanted me to, [I] definitely would have lost my entire livelihood."
At a Columbia Shuswap Regional District briefing in Salmon Arm, board chairman Kevin Flynn said "it's inexcusable" that people are staying behind in the evacuation zones and tampering with equipment.
Flynn said there were reports that sprinklers protecting a wooden bridge in the Shuswap area were removed at least three times.
"I just can't imagine anybody would think that is the right thing to do," he said. "That is dangerous."
Anyone placed under an evacuation order should leave the area immediately.
Evacuation centres have been set up throughout the province to assist anyone evacuating from a community under threat from a wildfire.
To find the centre closest to you, visit the EmergencyInfoBC website.
Evacuees are encouraged to register with Emergency Support Services online, whether or not they access services at an evacuation centre.
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