By Keith McNeill
The recent experience with the fires near Little Fort showed the importance of retaining the Clearwater Fire Zone office in Clearwater, according to mayor John Harwood.
Speaking during a town council meeting held Aug. 22, Harwood said that he had met with the first management team from BC Wildfire Service that was supposed to take oversight of the Little Fort fire complex, only to have them leave a day later and be replaced by a team from Parks Canada.
That team in turn was here for just 14 days before being rotated out and replaced with a fresh team.
“It was a difficult situation. It speaks to the importance of keeping the fire zone here … we need that stability,” the mayor said.
He praised the District of Clearwater staff who manned the municipality’s emergency operatons centre during the roughly two weeks it was open.
He and district staff had been meeting just about every day with RCMP, BC Parks, campsite operators and so on.
He noted that Thompson-Nicola Regional District’s emergency operations centre had been closed for just two weeks following last spring’s flooding and had been open every day since then.
He commended the Clearwater and Blackpool fire departments, as well as the other departments from elsewhere in the province that sent units here to help out.
Harwood noted that councillor Merlin Blackwell had played an important role in helping to negotiate the partial re-opening of Wells Gray Park.
The mayor said that he and other town council members would raise the park closure and other issues related to the fire situation when they meet with the premier and other cabinet members during the Union of BC Municipalities convention later this month.
Another article relating to the closure of the Clearwater Fire Zone is on page A3 inside.