State of Emergency declared by Fort Nelson First Nation due to wildfire

FORT NELSON, B.C. — Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN)’s council has declared an official state of emergency in relation to an evacuation order that was issued earlier on Monday.

According to a Facebook post on Monday afternoon, the state of emergency affects all residents of the Khantah Reserve (IR #3), effective immediately.

The state of emergency issued deals with the following areas:

• 112 kilometres southwest of IR#2 (FNFN)
• 109 kilometres northeast of Prophet River
• 48 kilometres northeast of Fontas Reserve
• 116 kilometres southeast of Fort Nelson.

In making the declaration, FNFN council stated that Nation employees, servants and agents are empowered by the resolution to “do all acts and implement all procedures that are deemed necessary,” to prevent or alleviate effects of the emergency, including:

• Acquire or use any land or personal property considered necessary to prevent, respond, or alleviate the effects of the emergency.
• Authorize or require any person to render assistance of any type that the person is qualified to provide or that otherwise is or may be required to prevent, respond to or alleviate the effects of the emergency.
• Control or prohibit travel to the affected designated areas.
• Provide for the restoration of essential facilities and the distribution of essential supplies as well as provide, maintain and coordinate emergency medical welfare and other essential services in any part of the jurisdiction.
• Cause the evacuation of persons and livestock, animals and personal property from any area in the declaration within the local authorities jurisdiction.
• Construct works considered necessary by the local authority to prevent or alleviate the emergency.

According to the latest report from the BC Wildfire Service, the nearest wildfire to the evacuated area is five hectares.

Earlier Monday Morning, evacuees were urged to evacuated along the Fontas River via boat, with FNFN saying they should “follow all road directions from authorities.

Those seeking up-to-date information are asked to call FNFN’s Emergency Operation Centre at 250-775-0716.

Energeticcity.ca will update this story as more information becomes available.