What you need to know about B.C. wildfires for Aug. 7
CBC
The latest on the wildfires:
A wildfire burning near Princeton, B.C., forced the evacuation of a music festival attended by up to 1,000 people on Sunday evening, according to officials.
The B.C. Wildfire Service wrote in a social media post that it's responding to the Rice Road wildfire around 11 kilometres northwest of Princeton.
It says the fire, which is around three hectares in size — roughly the area of six football fields — is visible from Princeton and surrounding areas but no structures are currently threatened.
Mayor Spencer Coyne said the fire started Sunday evening, prompting RCMP and fire personnel to help evacuate the Under the Stars Music Festival.
"Because of the location of the festival itself, there is only one access in, it's on a private property," said Coyne.
In a statement Monday afternoon, Princeton RCMP said the fire was caused by a group of four people riding ATVs near the village of Coalmont, about 20 kilometres northwest of Princeton. One of the ATVs caught on fire, igniting a wildfire that spread rapidly, the statement said.
They said up to 1,000 festival attendees and the four ATV drivers have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported.
Coyne earlier said as many as 500 people were believed to be attending the festival.
He said thousands of people were visiting Princeton over the long weekend because several events were taking place in and around the town.
"Luckily, most people came in their campers or already had other means of accommodation, so when they evacuated out, most of them have found a place to go," he said.
Coyne says firefighters have told him they are hopeful they can contain the fire, adding that the town saw some rain last night after the festival was evacuated.
Musician Amrit Saggu, who goes by the stage name of Saint Soldier, was supposed to perform at the festival with his set scheduled to start at 9 p.m.
But he said he learned just before 8 p.m. that the festival would be evacuated.