State Of Emergency Ends, Fire Response Continues

British Columbia’s provincial state of emergency has expired.

“While the provincial state of emergency is no longer required, the wildfire season is not over,” said Bowinn Ma, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

“Many communities still have local states of emergency in place and the expiration of the provincial state of emergency does not impact wildfire-fighting resources or our ability to continue to provide emergency supports to communities. In particular, conditions continue to be very challenging in northern B.C., with 125 active fires in the Prince George Fire Centre, and the Province will continue to surge resources into the North as required.”

The province made the move at midnight last night, saying the work of firefighters from B.C., Canada and abroad, as well as cooling temperatures, has led to many British Columbians returning home. As of yesterday, about 370 people remain on evacuation order and more than 18,000 are on evacuation alert.

Six hundred out-of-province personnel are currently assisting wildfire response and B.C. continues to coordinate additional out-of-province resources through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

The state of emergency was declared on August 18th.

To learn more, visit Government of British Columbia.