Cariboo Regional District partially downgrades evacuation order for French Bar Creek wildfire

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — Some residents who were forced to evacuate due to the French Bar Creek wildfire are able to return home.

Effective 4:00 p.m. Monday (Aug. 10), the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) partially downgraded an evacuation order for the eastern portion of its French Bar Fire Area 5 boundary to an evacuation alert. Residents in the western portion of the attached map, as outlined in rep, remain on evacuation order.

The evacuation order was initially put in place at 7:00 p.m. on July 25.

Image credit: CRD

However, the CRD says residents on evacuation alert must remain ready to evacuate their property should it be required. While residents will be given as much advance notice as possible prior to evacuation, the CRD says they may receive limited notice due to changing conditions.

As of publication, there are still four CRD evacuation alert areas and one evacuation order area in effect.

The French Bar Creek wildfire is measured at around 44,384.38 hectares in size. Its suspected cause is under investigation. It has triggered evacuation orders and alerts from the CRD, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, High Bar First Nation and Stswecem’c Xget’tem First Nation.

In an update Monday afternoon, the BC Wildfire Service says it expects the French Bar Creek and nearby 27,785-hectare Bonanza Creek wildfire to continue to grow and ultimately merge.

“The French Bar Creek wildfire continues to grow, primarily driven by dense fuels and terrain. Low visibility has challenged our ability to accurately track the fire’s growth, but we have seen limited expansion to the south in recent days,” the wildfire service states. “We anticipate growth will continue in the days ahead, pending a significant change in weather conditions. Should winds intensify, we expect to see growth increase further. This fire is burning intensely in steep, inaccessible terrain, making direct response unsafe for our crews. The safety of responders remains our top priority.”

The wildfire service says 22 helicopters and an incident management team have been assigned to the French Bar Creek wildfire.