Surreal exodus from fire

Photo: City of Williams Lake

Wildfire smoke hangs over Williams Lake as residents evacuate, Saturday.

Williams Lake Coun. Jason Ryll was already packed and ready to go when the evacuation order was issued late Saturday.

Thousands of people fled as the entire city was put on evacuation. Ryll said the drive out of town was surreal.

"The lineup of traffic, of people, leaving the city was incredibly long. It was a long ribbon of red tail lights, all headed in the same direction," he said. "It was almost dreamlike. A scene of a movie, almost, to be leaving in such numbers from your hometown."

Ryll made it to Kamloops and stayed the night, then headed north on Sunday to meet with the rest of his family members who left for Prince George before the evacuation order was issued.

The roads were much less busy after the evacuation order, and the streets are still blanketed in smoke and ash, he said.

"It's thick, thick smoke. You can taste it in the air," he said. "It's hard to comprehend."

As a city councillor, Ryll said he's frustrated that preventative action wasn't taken earlier.

Forests in the Interior "are tinder-dry, waiting for fire," he said. "We've gotten too good at fighting fires .... This is a problem that is not going to go away."