Historic B.C. town no longer under wildfire evacuation

Picture a spider web composed of water hoses.

That's how Stewart Cawood described Barkerville, B.C., at the end of an anxious week.

For several days, around 1,000 residents and tourists had to evacuate from the historic gold-mining town, and nearby communities like the District of Wells, due to the 143-square-kilometre Antler Creek wildfire, said Wells Mayor Ed Coleman.

But the fire — one of six blazes that remain highly visible or pose potential threats to public safety, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) — never reached Barkerville.

It comes after BCWS and some local staff raced to protect the largest living history museum in western North America from potentially burning down to the ground like in 1868. 

By Friday, after periods of rain in the Cariboo region aided firefighters, authorities were able to lift the evacuation orders for the area. 

"Even though the town looks very different right now, it's just relieving to see us standing, especially … given the tragedy in Jasper," said Cawood, the town's manager of public programming and media.

He says there's still much to be done before the site could be reopened to the public. A lot of the infrastructure protection will also remain in place in case fire conditions change. 

To protect a town largely constructed of wooden structures and connected by wooden walkways from fire, Cawood estimated that around 75 per cent of the buildings have sprinklers on them.

Hoses are also strung all throughout the site, going in and out of buildings to tap into water sources, and climbing onto roofs to help create "humidity domes." As a result, there are massive puddles. 

"You'd think it was spring right now," Cawood said. "But really, it's just a testament to how hard B.C. Wildfire and our operations team worked to keep this place protected."

Coleman similarly said he's relieved to hear about Barkerville being safe. The mayor of Wells previously served as the site's CEO, and he told CBC's Radio West that he invested in sprinklers, as well as field treatments, in order to reduce fire risks around the town. 

"We did all that work in 2017 and then my successor had to deploy it," he said. "That place is my heart and soul."

Beyond the infrastructure, Cawood said the site's staff were able to leave safely and some took refuge at the Cottonwood House, another historic site that is just over 50 kilometres west of the town. Two dozen animals — including goats, horses, chickens and a local cat — came with them. 

The town also moved a painting of Barkerville by a Group of Seven artist, and artifacts like Billy Barker's pocket watch. Barker was the miner who found gold in the nearby Williams Creek in 1862 and helped kick off the Cariboo Gold Rush, which was pivotal in helping form the province of B.C. 

"They're just waiting to come back now," Cawood said. 

But there has been wildfire damage elsewhere in the area. There were some structures destroyed, according to Coleman, including two homes. 

In addition, Richard Wright, the founding president of Friends of Barkerville, said there likely have been losses of "smaller but nonetheless important" heritage resources like headboards of graves or old buildings located in less populated areas. He said his group plans to go out in the coming months and survey what has been lost. 

In the meantime, most evacuated residents have come back to the area and they are now balancing both recovery and alert modes, according to Coleman. His district lifted its evacuation order Thursday, a day earlier than places like Barkerville and Bowron Lake. 

Cawood is one such Wells resident, having returned home after fleeing to his mother's house in Quesnel. 

"You don't really know how that's going to feel until you're actually standing there," he said about his own evacuation.

"You look around at all your stuff … and these are more than just things. The things that we own in our homes are very much artifacts as to our own lives and where we come from."