With more people being displaced by wildfires within the Bulkley Valley and Lakes District, the Burns Lake Band has opened its Gathering Place for evacuees.
Though they are not an official evacuation site, they’ve set up 25 army cots in the gymnasium for evacuees and firefighters with no place to stay.
Volunteer Uland Tom says other local bands have chipped in to help those who need it most.
“We have breakfast courtesy of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation starting at 8AM until 10:30AM, then we have lunch courtesy of the Lake Babine Nation, which is 12PM to 3PM, then we also have dinner courtesy of the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation from 5PM until midnight.”
Showers have also been made available for evacuees.
Tom adds it’s tough to hear the challenges they’re facing, most of whom have said they’ve don’t understand the current wildfire situation.
“Our biggest concern is getting the word out there because not a lot of people know what’s going on. I know that the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) hasn’t advertised an anything about what’s going on with the evacuation centres that we have provided.”
He says more cots are being set up in the Lake Babine Margaret Patrick Memorial Centre if they reach capacity.
Evacuation centres are also set up at the College of New Caledonia (CNC) in Burns Lake, the Christian Reformed Church in Smithers, and the CN Centre in Prince George.
For more evacuee information, you can click here.
For more information on all the current wildfires in the Northwest and Prince George Fire Centres, you can click here.