Where's the Fire?

By Ben Meisner

“I think we have a forest fire near here but I wouldn’t know”. Those are the comments of Lea Lister, of Hixon as she tells of her trip to work in that community from her home five miles north. She said, "When I got to work, I went to a few of of the stores and said where is the fire?"  The area was covered in smoke but no one could pinpoint for certain, the location of the fire.

Lea is one of a growing number of rural residents who have found themselves without any communication when it comes to notifying someone of an impending problem. Over at Cluculz Lake, Jackie Johnson of Lakeside Resort says she is part of a response team that is in contact with the local volunteer fire department which, in the event of an emergency, would go door to door in the area.

Meantime, in Cluculz Lake, residents awoke this morning to a thick layer of ash on their homes and vehicles. It is believed that ash is coming from a fire at the confluence of the Stuart and the Nechako River, or as Jackie Johnson says, maybe from around the Bobtail Lake area. As one Vanderhoof resident put it this morning, "If it’s a long hot dry summer, you can bet your mother’s best outfit you’re going to be living with a cover of smoke in the north right through until fall." 

 A total of 24 fires have been reported in this area, with the result that the city of Priince George also finds itself covered in a layer of smoke believed coming from the Nechako- Stuart River fire.

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