The Mayor of Sicamous says his community has been busy this summer, despite a nearby wildfire that briefly forced a part of the Shuswap community to evacuate for about two weeks.

Terry Rysz says the smoke also doesn’t appear to be keeping people away, especially if they have summer homes in the area.

“Well that’s Sicamous. There’s a lot of Albertans and Saskatchewanians, but also people come from Vancouver. They come to the Shuswap,” he said, on the NL Morning News.

“We’re right in the middle of our tourist season and this [fire] came on rather suddenly. When they lifted some of the restrictions with COVID, people just went out to their cabins and on the lake. People are coming in and out of British Columbia. They’ve been holidaying here for years and years.”

COVID-19 restrictions were eased in B.C. as of July 1, and Rysz says it was pretty much business at usual in Sicamous before the Two Mile Road fire broke out on July 20.

“A lot of people were already here and it is a bit of a concern, yes, but these people are still holidaying in the middle of all of this smoke that’s laying on top of us,” he said. “We go from about 3,000 people to about 15,000 to 18,000 people through the months of July and August.”

Rysz tells NL News he is cautiously optimistic that the community will navigate the issues caused by the Two Mile Road wildfire, which is still mapped at about 1,200 hectares.

“You have to take your hat off to the firefighters and all of the stakeholders, the ambulance service, the RCMP, everybody that was involved in this thing, and yeah, we’re maxed out, lets face it but this is a dilemma all over the province and we’re just thankful for what we have,” Rysz added.

“We’re feeling optimistic that we’re going to keep that fire in control, but as far as the District of Sicamous is concerned, everybody is on alert for sure.”