More B.C. evacuees returning home Saturday, but told to prepare for changes

Residents of the small British Columbia village of Clinton are set to return home as wildfire evacuation orders are downgraded to alerts.

As of 8 a.m., the changeover means those who evacuated due to the Pear Lake and Fiftynine Creek wildfires can return home.

Emergency officials caution the downgrade is only partial, with approximately 373 properties seeing the change.

This includes Clinton-Pavillion Road from the village’s southwest boundary to east of the Kelly Lake substation, Highway 97 from Loon Lake Road to Clinton’s southern boundary, and Highway 97 from Clinton’s northeast boundary to 76 Mile Frontage Road.

Other downgrades are for Big Bar Lake, Beaverdam Lake, Chasm, Little Big Bar Lake, Meadow Lake and Meadow Lake Road up to Pigeon Lake, and other areas outlined in a map released by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

But the district cautions areas west of the town from the Kelly Lake substation north to the district’s border remain under evacuation orders due to the ongoing threat from the Pear Lake wildfire.

Even as residents start returning, Clinton Mayor Roland Stanke warned in a YouTube update that residents are returning to a community that’s been profoundly affected. For example, services normally relied on by residents will be limited or unavailable, and the threat of more fires looms.

Clinton’s return comes a day after Peachland and area residents started returning to their own homes after evacuation orders were downgraded at 6 p.m. Friday to alerts.

When the downgrade was announced, re-entry information was posted by the District of Summerland. The Thompson-Nicola Regional District issued similar guidance to its residents:

The Pear Lake fire, which prompted the evacuation of Clinton, remains the province’s biggest with it estimated at 1,574 square kilometres as of Friday night.

Thousands of residents are still out of their homes, with 45 separate evacuation orders issued for numerous fires burning in the southern third of the province.

B.C.’s fire season started fast and early, and already about 400 buildings have been destroyed, including about 230 homes on the Okanagan Indian Band reserve that were lost in the Bradley Creek wildfire.