UPDATE 8 p.m. – Residents in Ashcroft, as well as Cache Creek, can put their “go bags” back in storage, as evacuation alerts there have been lifted.

Those alerts were issued on July 19th, after the fire more than doubled in size.

Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden says they didn’t take the decision lightly to pull back the alert.

“I know of other places where they have been, maybe, a bit too hasty in rescinding alerts, and then they have to go back in place again,” noted Roden.

However, she says the BC Wildfire Service has determined conditions on the Shetland Creek wildfire are improving.

“They’re the ones who have the experts who are able to look at wind and weather patterns, look at the fire behavior, look at the long-range forecast and what we’re expecting in terms of weather coming into the area, how that is going to affect the fire,” said Roden.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District also downgraded an evacuation order for three properties in the vicinity of the Ashcroft Ranch in Electoral Area “I”, leaving 94 on order.

An alert for 59 addressed properties along Upper Hat Creek Road, Boston Flats, as well as areas south of Ashcroft and east of the Thompson River, has also been lifted, leaving 154 properties on alert.

Meanwhile, Roden – who also chairs the TNRD – says the Regional District is now working on providing residents of the hard-hit Venables Valley with a tour to see the damage in their area.

“It’s obviously going to be a while yet before people are able to go back in and start the cleaning and rebuilding process. We want that to happen as soon as possible,” said Roden.  “But we certainly do want people to get back in there to see what has happened, and to get that visual for themselves.”

Roden says no date for the tour has been set.

At least 6 homes in the Venables Valley have been destroyed by the blaze.