While the Bald Range wildfire continues to burn out of control, District of Summerland officials are already working on preliminary re-entry plans for 12,000 evacuated residents.
But the district’s chief administrative officer, Graham Statt, said any re-entry is at the discretion of the BC Wildfire Service.
“We cannot activate any re-entry until we get the go ahead from BC Wildfire ” said Statt.
When residents eventually return, they will find their downtown unscathed by the wildfire, according to Statt.
“Downtown Summerland remains complete and untouched ” stated Statt. ” We have our operating base in downtown Summerland near the arena and RCMP . If anything happened downtown we’d be the first to know about it “.
The district is also planning public information sessions for residents later this week.
” We want to have some public meetings with face to face opportunities in the next day or two where we would provide a presentation on staged re-entry which is subject to the right conditions and the BC Wildfire Service” .
One issue concerning the meetings is finding a location large enough to accommodate the expected turnout. The district plans to provide online access because some evacuees may have left the area to find housing during the evacuation order.
