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Sun Peaks empty, Whistler on extreme fire alert

Fire Chief Bruce Hall called to Kamloops to help the effort Assistant Fire Chief Rob Whitton has only one word to describe the current parched conditions in Whistler - "explosive.
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Fire Chief Bruce Hall called to Kamloops to help the effort

Assistant Fire Chief Rob Whitton has only one word to describe the current parched conditions in Whistler - "explosive."

"Everything around here is just ready to go," he said earlier this week.

As other parts of B.C. grimly battle one of the worst forest-fire crises in provincial history, local firefighters are also on the alert with the fire hazard rating sitting at extreme in Whistler.

Over the weekend the fire department was called out three times just to put out fires caused by discarded cigarettes.

"We've been fortunate that they were spotted early, that they were small and that we were able to mitigate them in a timely fashion," said Whitton.

Meanwhile, Sun Peaks resort is following a zero tolerance policy for smokers as two devastating fires continue to blaze only 20 kilometres from the resort, with more fires in the surrounding areas.

A cigarette caused at least one of those fires.

There will be no smoking on the mountain or golf course for the rest of the summer. In fact, smokers will only be able to light up in designated spots within the Sun Peaks village.

"That's probably our more important preventative measure right now," said Jeff Putnam, executive director for the Sun Peaks Resort Association.

Last weekend was supposed to the Canadian Mountain Biking festival at Sun Peaks and instead of it being one of their busiest summer weekends, the place turned into a ghost town literally overnight.

Sun Peaks evacuated roughly 500 guests and workers last weekend when a fire evacuation notice arrived from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

At that time the McLure-Barrier fire to the northwest was moving away from the resort but the Strawberry Hill fire to the southwest, just outside of Kamloops, was getting bigger and closer to Sun Peaks. Putnam called it "surreal" seeing two large mushroom clouds on the horizon blowing from different directions.

Staff put their emergency response protocol into place immediately after the evacuation notice, asking all business owners, residents and guests to leave voluntarily to be on the safe side.

"It was a very orderly evacuation," said Putnam, who was one of about two dozen staff who remained behind.

"People weren't panicked but they were definitely scared not knowing what the situation was."

Right away staff disconnected all the computer servers and ensured businesses were locked up. Eight snow guns pumped water onto and around the village core and workers built fireguards.

They also set up an around the clock fire watch atop the mountain.

"We had a 24-hour fire watch on top of the mountain with teams of staff taking shifts just keeping their eye on the smoke plumes," said Putnam.

"You certainly don't see fire or anything like that but (it was put in place) just to kind of watch the weather."

This is not the first time Sun Peaks resort has coped with a major fire. Almost two years ago, just weeks before the Delta Sun Peaks was scheduled to open its doors, it burned to the ground after an accident with a propane heater.

"Sun Peaks has a very good emergency response protocol," said Putnam.

"It was tested this weekend again and it went really, really well. We're really pleased with how it worked."

Whistler also has a Community Emergency Plan that would go into effect should a crisis like the Kamloops forest fires threaten the resort.

Assistant Fire Chief Whitton said that Whistler has agreements with local hotels and the use of the schools should people need to leave their homes in a hurry.

"There's secondary plans in place if those areas come under attack and we have to move them from those areas as well," he said.

In the meantime, the areas around Kamloops continue to burn and wreak damage and devastation in their path.

B.C. forest fire crews, with help from the colleagues across the country, managed to contain a few of the larger fires but later in the week the weather continued to work against them.

Instead of sparks from human error, officials are now concerned about new blazes caused by thunderstorms and lightening.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, 46 new blazes were spotted in the province, the bulk of which were near Kamloops.

Whistler Fire Chief Bruce Hall has been called to the area to help the province fight the fires. He is heading up the structural firefighting operation of the Emergency Operations Centre and will co-ordinate fire fighting against threatened structures in Kamloops and the surrounding area.

Whistler Fire Rescue Services cannot spare any other firefighters to the cause because the conditions in Whistler are extreme.

Whitton called on residents and guests to be extra careful in these conditions even with the milder temperatures and rainfall that fell on Whistler mid-week.

He points to the small cigarette fires and the backyard bonfire calls that firefighters have responded to in the last week as things that could have serious ramifications in the resort.

"It's a thing called common sense," he said.

"I think we've just become so complacent in our general lifestyle that when things change so dramatically, but it doesn't happen to you personally, it doesn't really affect the way you do things. And therefore it's second nature to not even think about it."

He also said he doesn't think the campfire ban will be lifted any time soon. The parched earth needs to soak up at least a week's worth of solid rain before it gets safer.

A little sprinkling is just clearing off the dust and not getting through the tree canopy to the dry ground, he said.

Excavating companies are still on the 1 p.m. shut down of machinery, with a one hour fire watch after that, until further notice.

In the meantime Sun Peaks, as of Wednesday, was still waiting for the road to the resort to open up again. Putnam said the resort could be operational within 12 hours once that road opens.

"I don't know if we'll be able to make up what we've lost so that's disappointing but at the same time we are certainly thankful that the fires didn't get closer," he said.

"On the short term there'll be a loss but it's not significant to really adversely affect our overall business this year."

Across the province firefighters are battling more than 350 blazes at an estimated cost of $3 million each day.

Premier Gordon Campbell declared a state of emergency across the province last Saturday.

He has written to the federal government to apply for help through the Disaster Financial Assistance program.