B.C. mining town rebranded as an outdoor paradise hopes to survive another wildfire season

Dr. Charles Helm is safe at home in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., this week after a wildfire forced him and his wife to flee.

"Any community that gets threatened by wildfires, it's a tragedy, and everyone is very stressed, and it's horrible," said Helm, a semi-retired physician who has lived in the town for 28 years and has written a handful of books about its history. 

"You can't exaggerate how terrible it is."

Evacuation orders for the District of Tumbler Ridge, a town of about 2,500 people in the foothills of the Rockies and about an hour's drive south of Dawson Creek, were downgraded to evacuation alerts on Thursday. 

Residents like Helm have to remain ready to leave at a moment's notice lest the winds shift and fan the flames of the West Kiskatinaw River wildfire back toward town. But with rain in the forecast for Sunday and Monday, hope is on the horizon. 

Keeping watch for wildfires that could destroy entire communities is the new seasonal norm for residents like Helm in Tumbler Ridge, as well as many other communities across B.C. 

"Every year, it's like Russian roulette: which is the town that's going to have the hardest hit this year," he said. "It's very worrisome, and it does seem to be getting worse."

Like other residents of Tumbler Ridge, Helm hopes wildfires will spare the picturesque municipality with a rich geological history that avoided becoming a ghost town and instead offers a paradise for outdoor enthusiasts and amateur archaeologists alike. 

Tumbler Ridge is the site of one of five of Canada's Geoparks, a UNESCO designation for areas of internationally significant geology, geography, or human history that relates to Earth.

The Geopark designation was awarded in 2015, 15 years after two boys discovered dinosaur tracks while they were out hiking. One of those boys was Helm's son, who was eight at the time. 

Manda Maggs, executive Director of the Tumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark, says the designation was a game-changer for the district, which was incorporated in 1981 as a mining town for metallurgical coal to make steel. 

The timing couldn't be better. Like many mining towns, Tumbler Ridge suffered from many a boom and bust cycle, and it was facing a strong possibility of becoming a ghost town. 

Rather than die a quiet death, Tumbler Ridge quickly gained a reputation as a backcountry mecca with gorgeous terrain that provides a bounty of opportunities for outdoor recreation. 

"People aren't just moving there because they got a job at the mine," Maggs said.