Cache Creek, B.C. – Residents in Cache Creek can’t wait to go home.

Yesterday, the Thompson-Nicola Regional District announced the evacuation order it issued July 7 due to a raging wildfire in the area would be lifted as of 3 this afternoon.

“The people from Cache Creek I’ve bumped into over the last several days in Kamloops are anxious to go back home,” mayor John Ranta tells 250News. “And it’s great that the fire has moved on a little bit – it’s far enough from the community that it’s now deemed to be sort of cautiously safe to come back to the community.”

Cache Creek Mayor John Ranta

So, what does this mean for the community of 1,200 people?

“It gives an opportunity for the businesses to re-open, for people to get back to work. I’m sure they’ve been suffering anxiety about the status of their homes,” he says.

“And so, I’m optimistic that because there has not been that much damage in Cache Creek itself – I’m optimistic that people will be pleased to be back home.”

He says damages were mostly limited to two hangars and a house at the airport along with some outbuildings in other areas.

“There’s also a sub-division in Cache Creek called Coyote Valley that’s near the Boston Flats Trailer Park that was destroyed by the fire which is outside of our boundaries,” says Ranta. “But Coyote Valley is within our boundaries and fairly close to Boston Flats and I haven’t been able to get down there to look for myself to see if there’s damage down there.”

Once evacuees return, he says life should return to normal in short order. He notes it helps that the water system is up and running, the power is on and that the swimming pool will reopen tomorrow.

Ranta adds the RCMP will be handing out a list of social services available to returning evacuees.

Considering the current wildfire situation and this spring’s floods, how does Cache Creek continue to persevere?

“People in Cache Creek have demonstrated time and again how resilient they are. We love to live here and we share the interpersonal relations that grow in a small community and I’m optimistic that we’ll get back to normal fairly shortly.”