Fire Blazes Near Lillooet, B.C., Evacuations Are In Order

by Yuliya Talmazan | July 27, 2009 at 09:01 am

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The untypical July weather in British Columbia, Canada, involving heat waves and thunderstorms, is sparking more fires throughout the province. A fire started by a lightning strike last Wednesday is burning next to a small community of Lillooet in southern British Columbia, prompting evacuations for Lillooet's population of less than three thousand people. The fire remains uncontained. The municipality has called a local state of emergency. More developments to follow.

Homes along the northeast shore of Seton Lake, west of Lillooet, B.C., were ordered evacuated late Sunday afternoon. The Mount McLean forest fire was sparked by lightning last Wednesday and now covers 10 square kilometres in steep terrain near Lillooet, 250 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

The Squamish Lillooet Regional District has declared a local state of emergency for Electoral Area B, covering a large area around Lillooet and the Duffy Lake corridor, west of the community.

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 10:47 on July 27th, 2009

This link is a great source for updates on BC Fires and the Lillooet Fire.

http://twitter.com/BCFireInfo

Uwe Paschen

at 09:15 on July 27th, 2009

Thank you for the post on the latest Fires in BC.

Barbara McPherson

at 09:19 on July 27th, 2009

The drought in BC is serious. We have not had a good rainfall where I live on Vancouver Island since May. Everything is tinder dry. This latest fire was probably started by a lightening strike. We're told to expect more of them. And I'll try to refrain from ranting too much about those who are smoking outside right now.

KansasA

at 10:11 on July 27th, 2009

The amount of fires sparked from the lightning storm on Saturday has all of us quite worried in the area. I have pictures of the lightning strikes at my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa as well as a video at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LimatEqJrQc

KansasA has contributed a photo to this story.

158

at 12:53 on July 27th, 2009

Good report, good pictures.

KansasA

at 17:57 on August 2nd, 2009

Yes Seton Portage has been evacuated. All residents are heading to Pemberton Meadows Recreation Center via the Highline Road. No road is currently closed but I think the Mission Mountain Road may close soon.

I live in Lillooet and have been listening to this for just over an hour.

Yuliya Talmazan

at 15:10 on July 27th, 2009

Thanks everyone for your updates and comments.

alex binz (not verified)

at 16:40 on July 27th, 2009

saw the lightning strike in Lillooet and took a picture of the start-up of this fire.. one small puff of smoke on top of Mt. Maclean... helicopters where there within 20 minutes with water buckets and they and fire retardant bombers fought the fire for about 5 hours.. looked like the fire was under control, but throughout the night the fire got a hold of the mountain side and the whole Lillooet side of the mountian was light up like a big birthday cake.! the fire was finally contained on the Northern part of the mountain and was driven to the south side above Seton Lake... They did a tremendous job containing the fire from posing a threat to the little town of Lillooet.. All this I have captured by amazing pictures....

KansasA

at 01:34 on July 31st, 2009

July 30 2009 All of Lillooet is on evacuation alert. I drove into town tonight and snapped some pics of the flames burning above town. The fire started heading back down into town and people started getting knocks on their doors telling them that an evacuation order was now in effect for the whole town. I've posted the pictures at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa/

Shannon Taylor (not verified)

at 17:48 on August 2nd, 2009

I was just told that Seton nwas being evacuated but they are having a very hard time because the roads are on fire. Anyone know if this is true?

Bullyluver (not verified)

at 17:49 on August 2nd, 2009

I was just told that Seton nwas being evacuated but they are having a very hard time because the roads are on fire. Anyone know if this is true?

KansasA

at 19:04 on August 2nd, 2009

ALL of Lillooet is now being evacuated!

G Atkinson (not verified)

at 06:19 on August 4th, 2009

We've been to Lilooet many times, we're from Ontario considering moving there. The quality of your filming was very poor. You must learn to keep the camera still or get a better one or don't bother filming at all. I hope that there are more versions out there.

KansasA

at 07:14 on August 4th, 2009

New pictures of the Lillooet fire and the Della Creek fire have been posted to my flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/kansasa/ The pictures were taken yesterday and last night.