Eyes on the weather as residents pack and flee from fierce wildfire in northeast B.C.
CTV
Showers are predicted Saturday over the aggressive wildfire threatening Tumbler Ridge, but forecasters say thunderstorms could sweep through the parched region without bringing any rain.
Tumbler Ridge resident Michelle Chisholm and her family had their bags packed with all the essentials, including camping gear, when an order to evacuate the town forced them to leave.
Chisholm, who has lived in Tumbler Ridge in northeastern British Columbia for 10 years, said her dilemma was dealing with her horse since she doesn't have a trailer.
She said she had arranged with someone at the local saddle club to get it out, but then the highway to Dawson Creek was blocked off.
Chisholm put out a public plea for help moving her animal to safety.
“I just kept getting phone calls and phone calls of all these people who were willing to help, so that made me feel good that strangers were willing to help, like, no questions asked,” Chisholm said.
She is one of about 2,400 residents in the District of Tumbler Ridge, on the foothills of the Rockies, who were given little notice to leave on Thursday as a fire encroached on the community.
Chisholm, her husband and their two children are now staying with friends in Fort St. John, about 170 kilometres north, waiting out the evacuation order.
