Citing the cooler weather and progress in fighting the wildfires, the B.C government has ended the provincial state of emergency first invoked August 15th.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, Jennifer Rice says, the situation has calmed down around British Columbia.
“We do not feel that we need a provincial state of emergency. However, there are still over 400 fires burning in the province. So we have fires in every fire centre, which means every corner of B.C right now. So we still have a lot of work to do, and we’ll be working hard to fight fires right into winter, but we don’t have the provincial state that we were in a few weeks ago.”
The rain and cooler temperatures have reduced the wildfire risk resulting in the lifting of the campfire ban in the Kamlooops Fire Centre.
Information Officer Brenna Ward says it was removed at noon today.
“As we’re seeing more a more fall, seasonal trend come in weather wise, we’re seeing those cooler temperatures, those higher relative humidity values, and just kind of a less overall fire danger rating.”
And with the weather improvements, the Canadian Armed Forces are wrapping up firefighting efforts in the Merritt area.
Stationed at the Merritt airport since Aug 16th, Major James Anderson says troops will start to be deployed to Princeton today, to help the B.C Wildfire Service battle the Cool Creek Wildfire.
“We’ve had nothing but positive experiences here. Of course, the soldiers are allowed to go into town. They’re walking to Wal-Mart, and they’re going out to eat. A lot of people are coming up to say thank you for your service and that type of thing, and we’ve received nothing but top notch support from the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment, with some extra security patrols, and they check in with us pretty much every day.”
More than 200 troops have been stationed at the Merritt airport since camp was first established.