Canadians return home as wildfires subside, smoke invades Minnesota
Residents of a British Columbia village were thrilled to be heading home Tuesday after being rushed out by a fast-moving wildfire but feared an uphill battle to repair the community's tourism economy.
Lisa Balouch, manager of the Sunset Motel in Cache Creek, said the loss of 11 days of visitors is significant not only to hotels but to restaurants, gas stations and other businesses.
"We had people coming from Britain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, all across Canada, the U.S.," Balouch said in an interview from Venables Valley, a short drive from Cache Creek. "So many people depended on those tourists coming through for money."
Smoke from the wildfires brought hazy skies and lower air quality to much of Minnesota Wednesday. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said air quality will decline from good to moderate across much of the northern half of the state, into the Twin Cities today.
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The National Weather Service is predicting thunderstorms from northwest to west-central Minnesota in the mid to late afternoon hours. That's expected to improve air quality and return the state to a good air quality index Thursday and Friday.
More than 45,000 people remained out of their homes Tuesday as 155 wildfires burned in British Columbia. Cache Creek, with a population of about 1,000, was the first major community to be evacuated on July 7.
Officials said the 200-square-mile Elephant Hill fire, formerly called the Ashcroft Reserve fire, continued to burn out of control, but the imminent threat to Cache Creek had diminished. Residents were allowed to return Tuesday, but the village remained on evacuation alert.
Mayor John Ranta said the fire destroyed two airport hangars, a house and a few other buildings.
Cache Creek businesses depend on summer tourism to generate enough revenue to stay open the rest of the year, he said. "It is a huge impact on local area businesses when there's an evacuation," he said. "We're hopeful that we can invite the rest of British Columbia and beyond back into the community in very short order."
So far about 12,700 households have registered with the Canadian Red Cross and 10,700 of those have received assistance, Robert Turner of Emergency Management BC said. Wildfires have burned more than 3,200 square kilometers of the province so far this year.
MPR reporter Tim Nelson contributed to this report.