The Lac Le Jeune Nature Resort, which had just re-opened after a three-and-a-half year closure due to COVID-19, is among the 344 properties evacuated due to the Ross Moore Lake wildfire burning just south of Kamloops.

Resort Manager Jason Upton evacuated south to Merritt along with four staff members who usually live on-site.

He tells Radio NL for the first two days of the fire – Friday and Saturday – it was moving away from the resort, but that changed Sunday.

“It seemed to be getting better. I actually left early Sunday, felt pretty good about it, to do a few errands and was really surprised that my phone started ringing off the rook that in my absence, the order was given and so of course, everybody had to scramble,” Upton said.

“We could see the smoke but really not the flames. But the thing I noticed in the photos [Sunday] is there were flames.”

Upton says while “the biggest shocker” was how quickly the fire moved, the evacuation process was orderly.

“Once the order came everybody was out very quickly. They weren’t panicked so they could have been out quickly,” he said. “Frankly they could have been out in five-minutes but everybody took the time to secure things and get their belongings together. It was orderly so you know it was an hour and a half.”

The resort, located about 20 minutes south of Kamloops, wasn’t full. Upton says many guests cancelled their plans on Friday and Saturday while others checked out early after getting a glimpse of the wall of smoke just a few kilometres away.

“You know it is a natural thing,” a philosophical Upton added.

“There’s really no reason to be upset about it because its just the way its always been. We just fight it and do our best to accommodate it and work with it and move on but you can’t stop the world from turning and this is something that’s not going away.”

As of the most recent update Monday, the Ross Moore Lake wildfire was mapped at 2,600 hectares in size.

Fire behaviour on Monday was favourable, thanks in large part to the cooler and wetter weather following a series of days with gusting winds and day time highs into the mid-to-high 30s.

– With files from Victor Kaisar and The Canadian Press