The area director in Spences Bridge is asking people to stop using their thumbs to start a second firestorm.

Steven Rice said people are sharing inaccurate information about wildfires on social media.

He said that only makes worries worse for people on evacuation order and alert.

“Please, unless you verify yourself that it’s factual, that the info or the intel is bang on, do not create a Facebook firestorm. We already have a firestorm, we don’t need a Facebook firestorm.”

Rice and his entire community were evacuated on Thursday because of the Lytton Creek wildfire, which is the blaze that destroyed most of Lytton and killed two people on June 30.

Speaking to NL News just after the order came down, Rice said it’s already been an anxious three weeks for his community since that fire started.

“The ebb and flow, as the wind changes, as the temperatures change, as the notifications are put out and stuff like that. Every one of those things brings the anxiety level up to another level. And then you sort of take a deep breath, and then you do what we’re doing, find another line of sprinkler, like we’re doing on the farm,” he said.

“I’m going to have leave here, and hopefully protect my home once I’m gone, because of course I can’t come back in. So now the emotions, I can imagine, are exploding like the fire. People are going to have to leave knowing the can’t come back and just keep their fingers crossed. It’s a scary, scary thing. This is our lives that we’re going to have to leave – at least a significant part – behind.”

Rice isn’t alone in urging people not to share inaccurate information; similar pleas have been made in recent days by Lytton councillor Lilliane Graie and by the Cariboo Regional District.

“Unless you have a question or can constructively help one of your Cariboo neighbours, please don’t post,” the CRD wrote on Twitter. “At this point in time we do not care about your opinion, rumours or your beliefs about this issue… We have to have people calm, collected, and armed with the right information to make good decisions for their families and neighbors.”

The CRD asked people to call its staff if they have a question or concern or want a rumour cleared up. The number it asks people to call is 1-866-759-4977.

Meanwhile, in Lytton, Graie said in an open letter that she and other village staff who lost everything on June 30 have been working 12 to 15 hours a day to make sure evacuees have food and a place to stay.

“To be clear, not once have any of the people doing the loudest complaining reached out to say ‘how can I help?'” Graie said. “I hope those who have been using this awful circumstance for their own benefit will now pause and consider how much more harm they are doing to people who have suffered enough, and stop spreading rumours, innuendo, or outright lies, or sending abusive and threatening emails and messages to us.

“We need to help each other and pull together in the same direction.