RCMP praise selfless act of evacuated business owner

The BC RCMP are praising the selfless efforts of small community members in the midst of the wildfire crisis.

On Friday, August 18th, at approximately 2 a.m., an evacuation order was issued for the Tatla Lake region in West Chilcotin, between Williams Lake and Bella Coola due to the Plateau wildfire.

Officers arrived in Tatla Lake in the late evening, conducting door to door notifications of the evacuation order.

One community member, who owns what appeared to be the only gas station in Graham Lake, made sure every RCMP vehicle had a full tank of fuel so they could continue with evacuating the community.

“I have to say we’ve been pretty humbled by the warm response we’ve been receiving in some of these small communities,” says Cst. James Mason of Williams Lake.” And I think we may have a few more police officers now considering applying for a posting in some of these small towns.”

Heavy smoke at Kamloops airport and incredible amount of fires burning in the Cariboo west of Williams Lake and Quesnel pic.twitter.com/GGW3j454cB

— John Goedhart (@flywestca) August 5, 2017

The owner put off evacuating himself and gathering his belongings until after he was able to ensure that RCMP officers were taken care of.

“That alone was a very generous act,” explains Cst. Mason. “But then that night the RCMP were also joined by ten Tatla Lake Search and Rescue volunteers who unselfishly offered their time, ensuring each resident was given as much time as possible to make arrangements to evacuate.”