Prince George, B.C. – Emergency Management  B.C.’s Chris Duffy says  while there has been  discussion about getting  Williams Lake residents back to their community,   it all depends on the weather.

“There ‘s discussion, as of this morning, looking towards this week some time, hopefully early to  mid week” says Duffy “but again that’s driven by fire safety and the processes being  in place from a re-entry perspective to make sure  that  there is a safe, orderly return.”

Navi Saini,  of the B.C. Wildfire Service,  says there is no  set time  for  a  lifting of the evacuation order “It really does depend on fire activity and the weather.  We are continuing to monitor the weather to see  what we can expect, however right now, it’s  instability,  no soaking rain event is expected for at least  the next 4 to 5 days.   We are  anticipating more winds  in the Cariboo region on Thursday and Wednesday combined with  thundershowers.  We’ll just be waiting to see  what the  weather forecast brings.”

The two fires  causing the most concern around  Williams Lake are the White Lake fire,  which is 10% contained  and the Wildwood fire   where crews continue to  work on developing guards around that fire.

There is also no positive  news on the potential  reopening of Highway 97 south of Quesnel.  The Ministry of Transportation  says  it knows everyone wants the highway reopened, but that  the safety of all parties and security  “remains paramount”.

Despite  heavy winds yesterday,  firefighting crews were able to make progress

Gustafsen fire is  100% contained,  and  is being held.

Hanceville/Riske Creek  fire is  45% contained.

Elephant Hill  is 30% contained.  The  winds yesterday caused some aggressive  behaviour,  but  there were only 2 minor escapes  which are being dealt with.