MONDAY JULY 6, 2015
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Vol. 64, Issue 127
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Province-wide fire ban issued TRE VOR CR AWLEY
Effective Friday last week, all open burning, including campfires and fireworks, will be prohibited throughout the majority of the province, as announced by Steve Thomson, the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson. This prohibition will remain in place until the public is otherwise notified. This extraordinary step is being taken to help prevent human-caused wildfires and protect public safety. Unseasonably hot and dry weather is being experienced around the province and any preventable, human-caused fires divert critical personnel and resources from other incidents. The BC Wildfire Service is responding to over 150 active fires in the province.
“We’re committed to safeguarding B.C.’s families, natural resources and infrastructure from wildfires,” said Steve Thomson, Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. “Given the hot and dry conditions in most of the province, we are implementing this provincewide campfire ban to help protect our communities.” This ban applies to: • open fires of any size, including campfires; • the use of fireworks, sky lanterns and tiki torches; • burning barrels or burning cages of any size or description; • the use of binary exploding targets (e.g., for rifle target practice); • the use of air curtain burners (forced-air burning systems).
See NO FIRES , Page 3
Wardner cemetery gets more land TRE VOR CR AWLEY PHOTOS COURTESY RDEK
An evacuation order, issued in the early hours of Sunday morning, has been lifted for the Kragmont Area (and South) as crews battled a 200-hectare blaze that was discovered on Saturday.
Fires heat up East Kootenay region TRE VOR CR AWLEY
Crews are currently battling a blaze out in the Baynes Lake area which had forced evacuation orders and alerts over the weekend. Discovered on Saturday, the fire quickly developed into 200-hectare in size, before crews, including 25 firefighters, aircraft and multiple pieces of heavy machinery, went to work. In addition, volunteer firefighters with the Jaffray and Baynes Lake fire departments also responded and worked
through the night to help contain the fire. The RDEK has declared a State of Local Emergency for the Baynes Lake / Kragmont area and their Emergency Program has been activated to coordinate the evacuation orders and alerts, provide Emergency Social Services support to those affected, and provide support to the BC Wildfire Service as they work to contain the fire. An evacuation order was issued early Saturday morning for residents south of 1347 Waldo Road, including the commu-
nity of Kragmont and an area south of the Elk River. That order was lifted on Sunday, and replaced by an alert, meaning residents are encouraged to be ready to leave immediately if required by authorities. An alert is also in place for the Baynes Lake area. A reception centre has been set up at the at the Jaffray Community Hall for those displaced by the evacuation orders, with over 150 people registering throughout the night.
See CONDITIONS , Page 4
The province has given a crown grant of land to the RDEK on behalf of the Wardner Community Association for cemetery expansion. Announced at a recent RDEK meeting last week, the land, approximately four hectares in size, will go towards future expansion of the cemetery. “We’ve been working with the province, which is allowing the crown grant, so we’ll get that piece of land and the purpose will be to extend that cemetery, but I think probably their first move will be to get it surveyed, and they have put funds away for that and
that’ll become something they can manage,” said Rob Gay, board chair of the RDEK. The WCA must survey they land within one year and do an archeological assessment, both projects where funding has already been set aside for such purpose. Wardner is just one of many historical cemeteries in the region, along with a site out at Fort Steele and the former boomtown of Fisherville. “There’s been a cemetery in Wardner for a number of years and the community association decided to clean it up,” said Gay.
See RDEK , Page 4