Strong partnerships, wildfire protection and community involvement helped the Williams Lake Community Forest win the 2023 Robin Hood Memorial Award for excellence in community forestry.

The B.C. government has provided more than $490,000 in grants to six local governments and First Nations in the Cariboo Fire Centre to support wildfire risk reduction initiatives and help keep communities safe.

Important work to keep people safe by reducing the size and intensity of future wildfires is about to begin in two Williams Lake neighbourhoods.

BC Wildfire Service crews plan to burn piles of woody debris near Williams Lake over the next eight weeks as part of an ongoing project to reduce wildfire risks in the area.

Category 2 open burning will be allowed again throughout the Cariboo Fire Centre’s jurisdiction, effective at noon on June 26, 2019.

Alkali Resource Management Ltd. and the Esketem’c First Nation, with the assistance of the BC Wildfire Service, plan to conduct a series of prescribed burns near Mayfield Lake between Wednesday, April 25 and May 4, 2018, weather conditions permitting.

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development is currently conducting helicopter-logging operations in the Williams Lake area to minimize the spread of Douglas fir beetles on Crown land.

With high and extreme fire danger ratings in the entire Cariboo Fire Centre and above-seasonal temperatures expected in the region over the long weekend, the BC Wildfire Service is urging the public to use extreme caution when spending time outdoors.

Due to improving weather conditions and fire suppression, Recreation Sites and Trails BC — in consultation with the BC Wildfire Service — will re-open select recreation sites and recreation trails within the Cariboo Fire Centre at 12 noon on Aug. 25, 2017.

A cold front bringing strong and variable winds, with gusts up to 60 km/h, is expected to move through the Cariboo Fire Centre on Friday, Aug. 18 and into the weekend. There is also a risk of lightning throughout the fire centre.