B.C. mayor urges residents to not share images of wildfire-damaged properties
Global News
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser said it was insensitive and unconscionable that images had been shared before owners were told of the damage.
The mayor of a northeast B.C. community threatened by wildfires is warning people who stayed behind in the evacuation zone to stay on their properties and not share images of fire destruction on social media.
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser said it was “insensitive” and “unconscionable” that images of properties destroyed by the Parker Lake wildfire outside Fort Nelson had been shared before owners were told of the damage by authorities.
Fraser’s comments come after videos were posted on social media showing what appeared to be multiple homes destroyed outside Fort Nelson.
The Facebook videos posted this week show large structures reduced to grey ash and twisted metal, scorched vehicles, and tall trees blackened by the side of the road. One video posted Wednesday appears to show firefighters working to protect another home, with smoke shrouding the road.
Fraser said people who stayed behind after Fort Nelson’s 4,700 residents were ordered to evacuate on May 10 needed to register with authorities to make sure they are part of the coordinated firefighting effort.
“The law says those people, if they’re not part of the effort (to fight fires), they need to be staying on their properties if they didn’t evacuate when there’s an evacuation order,” Fraser said in an interview on Friday.
“The RCMP don’t know these people one from the next, unless it’s a fire vehicle, and so they end up stopping somebody in a private vehicle when they should be out there looking for looters and checking properties.”
One of the residents posting videos to social media is Duane Loe, who said he and about a dozen others stayed behind to protect their properties.
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