As the smoke cleared Tuesday morning, July 23, things were looking up for the city of Williams Lake: the BC Wildfire Service now considers the Williams Lake River Valley wildfire as being held.
The view Tuesday is a stark change from Sunday evening (July 21) when the fire erupted, and even Monday morning as crews battled to gain control of the blaze which took a run at the city Sunday evening along Mackenzie Avenue.
The city is expected to update residents in the coming hours regarding the reopening of Mackenzie Avenue, and access to the lake and boat launch. An evacuation alert remains in place, although that could change today.
A storm Monday evening brought lightning, but also cooler weather which is a relief from a long stretch of hot, dry temperatures.
"Following significant progress suppressing the fire on Monday morning, July 22, by the Williams Lake Fire Department, BC Wildfire Service crews, and assisting crews, BCWS downgraded the category of the fire from ‘out of control’ to ‘held’ on Tuesday morning, July 23," stated the city in a release.
The city lifted the evacuation alert at 4 p.m.
Properties on Mackenzie Avenue from Highway to to the Jackpine Sawmill Access Road, Fairview Drive, Country Club Boulevard, Woodland Drive, Westridge Drive area, and Tolko Lakeview Sawmill were the areas under alert.
The Williams Lake River Valley is still an active emergency response area, however, said the release, and is closed to public access. Smoke may continue to be visible to the surrounding areas.
“There is a lot of work still happening down there,” said Ashley Williston, Emergency Operations Centre Deputy Director.
“Crews are working on and monitoring hot spots, and we will be continuing to monitor the area moving forward, as well as starting to conduct danger, geotechnical and environmental assessments. We can’t stress this enough: people need to stay out of the River Valley as it is not safe at this time.”
The city also thanked the 50-plus emergency responders, service organizations, assisting agencies, volunteers and local businesses helped with the emergency response.
Though an assessment is still underway, city officials expect the Williams Lake River Valley will be closed for the time being due to concerns surrounding slope stability after a wildfire swept through the area.
A tour of the Williams Lake River Valley Tuesday afternoon shows areas where the fire burned hot up the steep valley walls to Mackenzie Avenue Sunday, July 21.
"There's probably going to be nobody [allowed] in the river valley for at least another year. It's got to be fixed. The burned trees will probably have to be removed ... a big redo," said Rob Warnock, the city's EOC director, as he emphasized the importance of the public staying out of the area due to safety concerns.
The river valley just reopened to the public in the spring of 2023 after being closed for three years due to the 2020 floods which damaged city infrastructure and swiped out most of the bridges.
"All our bridges are still good," Warnock reports, adding there was some damage to fencing around ponds as well as seven or eight power poles which burned in the wildfire started by a tree top falling on a power pole.
All of the poles had just recently been replaced.
It is unclear at this time when CN Rail will be given the green light to operate in the city again, since the tracks run along the top of the valley. Tracks and slope stability are under assessment.
Wildfire crews are still extinguishing hot spots as dry forest fuels made for ideal burning conditions.
"It's burning deep," said Jordan Magnuson, incident commander on the fire for BC Wildfire Service.
