Coast Mountain News Thursday, July 16, 2015
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Vol. 31 | No. 14 Thursday, July 16, 2015
Serving the Bella Coola Valley and the Chilcotin
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Dan and Jan Coates lost their home and business, Woodland Caribou Resort, in the Puntzi Lake fire.
Homes and business destroyed in aggressive Puntzi Lake fire An aggressive fire located in Puntzi Lake has destroyed several homes and a longstanding business. The B.C. Wildfire Management Branch classified it at Rank 4 to 5 wildfire, making it the most aggressive wildfire burning in B.C. A fire of that rank causes entire trees to candle and spreads by crowning or jumping through the tree-tops. As of press time, cooler
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weather had helped to calm the flames but the Cariboo Regional District’s evacuation order included 90 properties and an alert is for an additional 183 properties. It was then classed The fire is now estimated at 8,089 hectares, however, Cariboo Fire Centre information officer Kelsey Winter said Sunday afternoon the increase from the earlier measurement of 7,000 hectares is not
because the fire has grown, but because with less smoke in the air it was easier to do a tight line map. The fire is threatening the nearby community of the Tsi Del Del First Nation at Alexis Creek. Chief Percy Guichon said the fire is about 10 kilometres as the crow flies from his community. Two elders from the community, however, live at Puntzi Lake and were
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evacuated, and one of the band employees lived at the resort that was lost in the fire. In total two permanent residences, one seasonal residence, and the resort were lost, with a total of about 18 structures. A water bomber also crashed last week into Puntzi Lake fighting the fire. The plane sank but the pilot managed to escape unharmed. The Caribou Woodland
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Resort, owned by Dan and Jan Coates, was destroyed late last week. Coates said he felt lucky to get out ahead of the fire. He had decided to send his guests away and started hosing down the property, not expecting the fire to move as quickly as it did. “So I had my fire pump up and I was wetting down the ground, hosing down the roof, that kind of thing
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and when Jan saw our last guest leave she came to see me and said, ‘Dan look behind you.’” he said. “And I turned around because I had my back to that side of the lodge and it was just a 100-foot wall of flame not far from where we were and I just looked at Jan and said, you know what, we gotta go.” SEE
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