While not recommended, property owners do have every right to ignore an evacuation order and choose to stay with their property.
BC Wildfire services are reminding residents that staying comes with the requirement that you remain on your own property at all times.
"Moving outside of your property can interfere with fire operations and negatively impact the firefighting efforts. If you leave your property, the RCMP will issue a warning. If you leave your property after receiving a warning, the RCMP will escort you from the Evacuation Order zone," stated a press release from BC Wildfire Services.
Evacuation orders are issued for the safety of the residents, and in the case of wildfires, with the best interests of the firefighters in mind.
“If a person has the ability to make their own decision and they are over the age of 19, we will not force them to leave the home,” said Dr. Sarah Henderson from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control during wildfire press briefing in July.
“The only time we may intervene is if there are children on that property, in which case we have a duty to protect them and they could potentially be removed from the property.”
So far, more than 45,000 people have been displaced by B.C. wildfires in 2017.
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