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B.C. Wildfire evacuees asked to register early

Cariboo Regional District officials say it saves time and heartache
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Greg Sabatino photo. Lines are long at Lake City Secondary Williams Lake Campus Tuesday morning where hundreds are waiting to register with Emergency Social Services.

Emergency officials in 100 Mile House are asking anyone planning on staying in an evacuation area to register with the Red Cross.

“It gives us some planning numbers,” emergency social services coordinator Dave Dixon. “If somebody is looking for a family that has registered, who may not have stayed at home but has gone to some other area, it lets us to tell loved ones looking for family that they may have moved to a place where there aren’t orders happening.”

RELATED: 100 Mile is under evacuation

Cariboo Regional District chair Al Richmond said the emergency operations centre has been kept busy with between 2500-3,000 calls each day.

“The Cariboo Regional District has 16 evacuation orders at the moment, we have six alerts,” said Richmond. There are 34,380 people under evacuation order or alert in the region.

“It’s unprecedented for our region.”

Williams Lake CAO Milo McDonald said that the area has seen an increased RCMP presence. Cities in the region, including 100 Mile House, have seen looting in recent days.

RELATED: Break and enter arrest made in 100 Mile evacuation area

The emergency operations centre at Lake City Secondary in Williams Lake has registered 9,500 since the wildfires began. Dixon said that half of those people were registered today.

VIDEO: Evacuation alert issued for Williams Lake and surrounding fringe area