VANCOUVER – A Boston Bar, B.C., resident forced from his home by the Brunswick complex wildfire says he’s desperate to return but after hearing rumours circulating from inside the evacuation zone, he fears looters may get there first. “I wanna go home so bad,” said the resident, who asked not to be identified due to safety concerns. “Honestly I don’t wanna put a target on my house if it hasn’t been hit yet,” he said in a message to CTV News, adding others who have evacuated are also scared to speak up. The resident and his family have been staying at a campground in Hope, B.C. with their dogs since evacuating. “Not ideal,” he said, “but we have nowhere else to go.” He says after an urgent order to evacuate from the Fraser Valley Regional District (FVRD) on July 21, some in Boston Bar stayed behind, and are feeding concerning information to evacuees about empty homes being targeted. “So many looters are getting past the roadblocks on trains and breaking into properties,” he shared about the rumours. “The police are so short-staffed they can’t keep up,” he added. The evacuated resident believes the thieves are no strangers to police. “The looters are mostly locals and everyone knows who they are,” he said. CTV News has reached out to the Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment of the RCMP to verify whether there have been thefts in the community but has not received a response. On July 23, the detachment released a statement from Superintendent Darren Pankratz, telling residents that “RCMP officers continue to work alongside our partners to help maintain public safety and security while wildfire conditions remain active. It is critical that people follow evacuation instructions and stay away from affected areas.” Meanwhile, RCMP are also investigating the vandalism of Boston Bar’s water system after the regional district says someone entered the evacuation zone and improperly reopened a valve that had been shut off to preserve water for firefighting. The district said the valve was reopened late Thursday night, which activated a high-flow alarm. It added that the valve was operated incorrectly, creating the potential for a “water hammer” that could have caused catastrophic damage to the community’s water system. FVRD staff returned to the site to shut the water off again about two hours later. Officials said the extent of any damage can’t be assessed until it is safe to re-enter the evacuation area and have asked anyone with information to contact Hope RCMP. Elsewhere in British Columbia’s Interior, a threatening wildfire north of Clinton, B.C. prompted officials on Monday, to issue a new evacuation order covering about 650 properties in and around the community of 70 Mile House. That comes after the Pear Lake and Fiftynine Creek wildfires merged into a massive 630 square kilometre fire on Sunday. On Friday, officials said the Pear Lake wildfire destroyed structures, including homes, on the outskirts of Clinton. B.C. Wildfire Service information officer Paula Walbauer said firefighters remain focused on protecting homes around Clinton while crews extinguish hotspots along the fire’s edge. “Structure protection personnel and firefighting crews are focusing on structure defence,” Walbauer said. “Crews and heavy equipment are establishing a machine guard between the fire’s edge and the village of Clinton.” She warned conditions are expected to worsen as hot, dry weather returns. “This is a dynamic situation. We are seeing that increase in fire behaviour,” Walbauer said. About 135 wildfires were burning across B.C. on Monday, with additional fire crews from Yukon, Alberta and Mexico expected to arrive in the province in the coming days to help support the nearly 1000 firefighters already on the ground.
