While fires burn north and south of his community, the Mayor of Lillooet says he is proud of the way people stepped up to house wildfire evacuees last week.

Peter Busse says Lillooet welcomed evacuees from the Pavilion area impacted by the McKay Creek wildfire as well as the Lytton area impacted by the Lytton Creek wildfire.

“The evacuation took place just as the long weekend was starting. We got about 300 that night,” he told NL News. “At the same time, we were getting tourists from the Lower Mainland coming up to the area as travel restrictions were eased. The community was pretty much overwhelmed with traffic.”

Busse says because of a shortage of hotel rooms in Lillooet some of the evacuees have already left for other larger communities.

“We still have a number of people from Lytton here, obviously with friends and family and that kind of thing,” he added. “I’m proud of our emergency people that took care of the registration and looking after the prime concerns of the Lytton people.”

With a population of 2,275 according to the 2016 census, Busse says Lillooet has been getting support from all levels of government to ensure that it is not overwhelmed with the added influx of evacuees and tourists.

“We’ve been getting support at every level from our MLA to the Premier who contacted me directly, Minister Josie Osborne contacted me directly. Mayors from around the area have said anything they can do to support, they will,” he said. “Everybody has been coming to the party and really assisting us.

“BC Wildfire especially has bent over backwards to throw major resources at both those fires.”

As of the latest update, the Mckay Creek wildfire is burning out of control at 24,698 hectares. It is suspected to be human caused with 14 helicopters, 21 pieces of heavy equipment, and 109 personnel on site today.

Evacuation alerts and orders are in place for both the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

The Lytton Creek wildfire meanwhile is mapped at 7,723 hectares and its also burning out of control. The fire has merged into the nearby George Road fire. There are now eight helicopters and seven piece of heavy equipment along with 47 fire fighters assigned to both fires within the complex.

All residents of Lytton have been evacuated with orders also issued for residents in the both the Thompson-Nicola Regional District and the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District.

Busse says there are some nerves with the two fires burning in two different directions. But he notes people are being kept updated on the situation.

“I want to take that fear and turn it into vigilance to ensure that people are doing the right things,” he said.

Busse also says Highway 12 to Lytton is the only one that is closed right now. As that was the main commercial route into town, the Ministry of Transportation has allowed 100 per cent of loads to be carried across the Ten Mile Slide area on Highway 99 which has helped ensure that Lillooet is not overwhelmed.

Highway 99 remains open heading north towards Cache Creek as well as heading towards towards Pemberton and Whistler.

Push for Backcountry Restrictions Because of Dry Conditions

Moving forward, Peter Busse says he has a simple message for residents and visitors to the Lillooet area – asking them to use common sense.

“The only concern would be lightning strikes. Another major concern is people doing stupid things…in other words campfires and cigarettes, and so on and so forth,” he said. “It is tinder dry out there and we are now vigilant and we are encouraging people to watch out and look out for each other and watch for those things.”

“We’ve asked for support from the province and others to encourage and even abolish abolish backcountry recreation. We just don’t need or want that right now and it has a tremendous impact.”

Busse says most people are aware of risks in the backcountry right now, adding he’s got faith that everyone will do the right thing.

“It s just a very few and if you look at the wildfires that a person-caused, that tells you something,” he added. “So yeah, it is of concern, but I’ve got faith in humanity that people listening to this and coming to our area say, ‘we’ll I better be careful.'”

Busse says there are concerns that a fire could start close to his community potentially leading to a situation like Lytton where the entire community is forced to evacuate in a matter of minutes.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has already passed a motion asking for a backcountry ban in areas of the district where and when the fire danger risk is high or extreme.