Prince George, B.C.-  The City of Prince George is arranging for buses to  transport those who want to  go home to Williams Lake but who don’t  have a means to get there.“We expect to have the buses  ready within 24 to 48 hours”     says Prince George Mayor Lyn Hall.

The Cariboo Regional District and City of Williams Lake  rescinded the evacuation for  many residents  at noon hour today,  but  that City will remain under evacuation alert.   Areas around Williams Lake  remain under  evacuation order ( click here for map  outlining  specifics)

Hall says he is pleased for those  evacuees  who have  an opportunity to  go home “They’ve been talking about it every time  I have met  with or seen  evacuees,  they are anxious to go home.  That’s what they were looking for,  they were looking  for  a date  as to when they could go  home.”

Mayor Hall says the  departure of so many from Prince George will change the  level  of activity  at the  Emergency  Reception Centre  “It  will  certainly be much less than it was yesterday,  we just need to figure out operationally where we are going and what that looks like.”

The concern is,  there is  still  a number of large fires burning in the region, and  the danger persists “They are still going to be on alert” says Mayor hall  “I think we still  have to maintain  a certain level of service because we still have  people here who are under medical evacuation from that area,  and are being treated by Northern Health  and we’ve got to keep a level of readiness if this happens,   God forbid,  in a few days they are told  they are under (evacuation) order, we need to start up again.”

There are also a number of people who self evacuated because  of the smoky conditions in  Williams  Lake,  and they won’t likely return home  until the  air has cleared.

In the  meantime,    Mayor Hall says  the effort to  assist  folks who want to go home is underway  “The RCMP are involved along highway 97 to make sure that the road is clear,   we also  want to make sure there is an orderly departure from  Prince George, and then they have to go through Quesnel,  so the RCMP  are notified along the whole   stretch of highway to make sure people are travelling safe and it’s an orderly  departure.”

During  the peak of the evacuations,  Prince George  welcomed 10 thousand evacuees.