Twenty-four hours of back-breaking effort has partially tamed a wildfire burning in B.C.'s Cariboo region at Big Bar Creek, 40 kilometres west of Clinton.
Julie Jansen, who works at a nearby ranch, said her home on Big Bar Ferry Road would have been in the line of fire if firefighters had not set up some structural protection two kilometres away. She said she could still see a lot of smouldering and some spot fires on Thursday morning.
"The majority of it had gone out as far as in the main valley where it started, but it has gone up the hill and it was still burning pretty good in some spots," she said.
Fire information officer Jenny Fremlin said the 420-hectare fire, which has blackened just over four square kilometres of woodland, is now 20 per cent contained.
"The objective for the day will be further containment by building more fuel-free areas, setting up water-delivery systems and cooling the fire with water bucketing and hoses," she said.
Wildfire management officials said 117 firefighters and a specialized incident management team remained assigned to the blaze on Thursday.
An evacuation order was downgraded to an alert the day before, but most of the 40 people in about 15 homes had defied the earlier command to get out, saying they were confident of their escape plans.
Jansen said people in Clinton do not underestimate fire danger, particularly when the region has a lot of dead trees, dry grass and little rain. Their homes were similarly threatened in 2009 by a wildfire at Kelly Lake, west of Clinton.
However, few would leave their farms and homes behind unless they absolutely had to, Jansen said.
"You see people in these sort of situations and you think, 'You idiot, get out of there,' " she said.
"But you don't know until it's happening to your place.
"On my property, there's six horses, there's chickens, other people have pigs and turkeys
"Those of us that make our living with the animals, that depend on the animals, that is our life and that is what's important."
The cause of the fire is being investigated.
