News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

By LeRae Haynes 

One Cariboo resident who was evacuated from her home for nine days is back home now, and says that the professional, caring help from the fire fighters and the Emergency Services volunteers is something she will never forget. 

Jenny Noble lives half-way between Williams Lake and Quesnel on the west side of the Fraser River. Along with other residents in the area, she was evacuated from her home on July 31. She said that before the evacuation order was announced, a helicopter landed in their hay field, and the pilot told them that it was time for them to get ready to move out. “We asked him when we would know it was time to leave and he said, ‘it’s time now.’ 

(Photo:  Firefighters meeting near Jenny Noble's home.  Click to enlarge photo.)

“My husband came home from town and said the fire was pretty close to the road---we thought we’d better go. We grabbed a few things and left. A friend on the West Fraser Road said we could stay there and we did, but at 5am the CRD knocked on the door and said we all had to evacuate,” she explained. 

She said that while they were evacuated, they had daily meetings with the Fire Centre, with someone from the CRD and sometimes an RCMP officer, at the Emergency Centre.”  

“You don’t think about being gone for a week or more---we just took a change of clothing. The Emergency Services volunteers gave us vouchers for food, clothing and lodging if we needed it. They were so helpful and caring. During the evacuation we had kind friends to stay with, but we also got offers from people was had just met,” she continued. 

“Being evacuated is so freaky and disassociating. The fire service guys have been fantastic. They told us that there wasn’t a structure lost up to that time: they saved all of them.” 

She said that they still have a 2,500 gallon container of water at the end of their driveway with hoses running to the top of the garage and the wood shed. “They have been watering everything, and some kind person even watered our garden. We thought everything would be dead when we got back home: there is so much to be thankful for,” she stated. 

(Photo:  The water bladder at the end of Jenny Noble's driveway.)

“The fire fighters in our area have a meeting at the end of every day, and on Tuesday we asked if we could come and meet them and say thank you. We made a ‘thank you’ sign and got to shake their hands,” she said. “One guy told us that in 30 years of fire-fighting, no one had ever done that before.” 

During the evacuation there was a police block at both ends of the road and Jenny said that she found that reassuring. “Some people were more upset than we were because of their livestock, and some of them were actually let in to care for their animals, if it was safe,” she said.   

“There was a lot less air traffic yesterday than there was on Monday and Tuesday and there is a lot less smoke, but we’re still on alert. The fire fighters told us that it’s winter that will put these fires out.”

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