The BC Wildfire Service and other representatives provided an update on what we are experiencing in the province for Wildfire activity.

Shambhala Music Festival

The RCMP confirmed that Shambhala remains under an evacuation alert, but organizers have opted to proceed with festival activities for Sunday, August 13th despite announcing a cancellation of the last day on Saturday, August 12th.

For more information, read our updated story on the Shambhala Music Festival.

Tactical evacuations

The RCMP also reported a tactical evacuation that took place due to increased fire activity last night.

Dawn Roberts, Director of Communications for the RCMP, says that it was a busy night for them on Saturday, August 12th, due to Wildfire activity.

New fires in Canim Lake, Hawkins Lake, and the Canim Reserve were seen by members in 100 Mile House, who made the tactical decision to conduct a series of evacuations in the area. Prior to formal orders being issued, local search and rescue teams were activated and assisted with the evacuations of several homes.

Also, late last night, increased fire behaviour has resulted in moving a series of checkpoints in the Quesnel and Alexis Creek areas due to fire threat, and are being re-established with the assistance of the Canadian Armed Forces.

An evacuation of the Alexis Creek area took place last night as well and was completed early this morning. Roberts says that they have a detachment in Alexis Creek and that they have taken steps to remove items from that building.

New fires in Cariboo

Photo Credit: BC Wildfire Service

BC Wildfire Service reported a total of 28 new fires that started Saturday, August 12th. Officials say the majority of those fires were lightning caused, and are mostly in the Cariboo region.

As of today, there are 163 fires burning across the province. So far in the season, BC Wildfire has responded to 1,003 fires that have burned an estimated 664,920 hectares of land across the province.