The District of Houston is working in tandem with the BC Wildfire Service and the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako in regards to the Nadina-Verdun wildfire.
The District’s Emergency Management Team is closely monitoring the situation as both fires are combined a 93,000 hectares in size.
The community experienced a major blaze over 30-years-ago but pails in comparison to the current one.
“People that have lived here a long time remember the Swiss fire in 1984 and it was one of the biggest fires in the province at that time, a fire that grew really quickly and when you look back its nothing in comparison to the fire we have up there right now,” says Shane Brienen, Houston Mayor.
The District has not been placed under an Evacuation Order or Alert at this time.
A meeting was held last night at Grassy Plains School by the wildfire service and the RDBN for members staying in the Evac Order area on the south side of Francois Lake.
Brienen explains what he would say to local residents if they were caught in the same situation.
“We would caution them for sure we’ve seen the last few years that these fires are behaving drastically different then they have in the past and part of that is the dead beetle-killed wood that still left standing. These fires are a lot different than anything we’ve seen in the past.”
The Nadina Lake wildfire is over 78,000 hectares while the Verdun Mountain blaze is under 15,000 hectares.