Access permits available for Fort Nelson residents, evacuation order still in place

FORT NELSON, B.C. — The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM) is providing some Fort Nelson residents with permits to return to the evacuated town.

According to the latest update from the NRRM, staff are processing access permits for essential workers, such as grocery store employees. 

Permits are also available for residents who need to re-enter the town for some other reasons, including feeding livestock or managing critical infrastructure. The application form for a permit can be found here.

Those who receive permits are being told to drive carefully as crews work to protect the town against the Parker Lake wildfire.

“Please observe reduced speed limits and take note of crews working along the highways,” said the update. “Failure to abide will result in revocation of the permit, with no consideration for future permitting.”

Residents are also being told that minors aren’t eligible for access permits, even if they are essential workers.

The town was evacuated on May 10th after the Parker Lake wildfire was discovered. 

Per the NRRM’s May 19th update, four homes have been lost as a result of the fire so far, and more than 200 more have had structure protection measures put in place.

According to the BC Wildfire Service, the fire is currently 12,350 hectares in size. Firefighters say conditions are expected to stay favourable for firefighting throughout Tuesday before entering a drying trend on Wednesday that’s expected to last into the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Patry Creek wildfire north of Fort Nelson is currently 74,344 hectares in size. On May 20th, the NRRM issued an update saying that fire isn’t currently an immediate threat to the community but adding that it could change rapidly based on wind directions.

Highway 97 is closed north of Fort Nelson, and Highway 77 is completely closed because of the fires, according to DriveBC.

Evacuees are reminded that they need to renew their Emergency Social Services on Tuesday. The Fort St. John ESS Centre is open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., while evacuees in Dawson Creek can visit their ESS Centre from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Energeticcity contacted both NRRM Mayor Rob Fraser and the BCWS Incident Management Team assigned to the Fort Nelson fires requesting interviews, and neither responded in time for publication.