Some B.C. residents told to get ready to leave as wildfire looms

Residents of 70 Mile House and surrounding areas have been told to get ready to leave their homes ahead of a planned evacuation due to an advancing wildfire.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District posted a notice on its Facebook page that the projected growth of the Pear Lake blaze north of Clinton, B.C., set the plan in motion and the evacuation order would be issued at 10 a.m.

The blaze that destroyed structures, including homes, on the outskirts of Clinton on Friday merged the next day with another blaze north of the community.

The latest mapping by the BC Wildfire Service shows the estimated combined size of the Pear Lake and Fiftynine Creek fires was nearly 670 square kilometres.

The roughly 250-square-kilometre French Bar Creek fire also continues to burn to the northwest.

The blazes have prompted a series of evacuation orders and alerts for remote and residential areas in the south Cariboo.

There are 140 wildfires in B.C., with more than 50 out of control.

Air quality warnings due to wildfire smoke remain in effect for much of B.C.’s central and southern Interior as well as the Prince George and Fort St. John areas.