There is an online petition to get the City Of Kamloops to construct a second road in and out of Juniper Ridge, which would help in the case of an emergency.

A fire on Canada Day near the subdivision had residents scrambling to get out of the neighbourhood. However, with only one main road in and out – Highland Road – it took some residents up to 40 minutes just to reach the roundabout at Highland and Qu’Appelle Blvd.

It took some other residents nearly two hours before they were able to leave the subdivision. Under typical conditions, the drive from Juniper Ridge Elementary school on Qu’Appelle Blvd. to the Trans Canada Highway takes about five minutes, according to Google Maps.

A caller on the NL Morning News said the blame for a lack of egress routes lies squarely at City Hall, noting he only moved about 200 feet in an hour and 15 minutes on Thursday.

He notes he was stuck with the fire in the rear-view, lighting strikes in the hills to the left and to the right. If there was another fire start, he said he would have rather returned home.

“I’d rather die at home than stuck in my car,” he said.

Organizers of the petition say that is an inadequate level of emergency egress capacity to support the existing and future population of Juniper Ridge.

“Evacuation efforts were further complicated by the fact that the gate at the west end of the subdivision on Galore Cres. remained locked, which prevented residents from accessing the rural exit road in that area,” the petition said.

“Fortunately, the fire remained below the subdivision and did not spread to homes or vegetation within Juniper Ridge or the mountain behind which present risk due to current fuel load.”

Kamloops Fire says the Juniper fire is under control, and none of the 400 homes around the fire perimeter were damaged. Organizers of the petition though say things could have been a lot worse if the winds were stronger or if it had switched directions.

“This it the situation that we have. One road in, one road now. No way to evacuate,” another person was heard saying in a video sent to NL News on Thursday night.

Residents began leaving the area in droves around 10 p.m. that day, though they were initially told they could return home around 11:30 p.m. Less than an hour later though, a new evacuation order was issued because of changing conditions.

“I’m so glad,” Renee Colman said on twitter on Friday morning after hearing that she could go back home. “It was an exhausting night leaving, going home and leaving again.”

Organizers say the City needs to provide proper egress for daily life and emergencies and not ad hoc emergency roads.

“Proper developed roads to the east (Benchlands to Highway 1), middle (Highland), and west (Rose Hill) are needed to avoid a similar scenario in the future be it for fire, earthquake or any other emergency,” the statement said.

So far almost 5,000 people have signed the petition online.

On Tuesday last week, Kamloops City Council approved a new Juniper subdivision with a paved, gated road between Coldwater Drive and High Canada Place (Juniper to Rose Hill). That road will only ever be opened for emergencies.

The gated road from Qu’Appelle Boulevard to the lower part of Rose Hill Road – which was used by some people to leave the area Thursday night – will eventually be paved over in the next decade, once that stretch becomes more developed.

Said while stuck – fire in the rear-view, lighting strikes in the hills to the left, and to the right – caller said if there was another fire start, he was going to just pull a U-turn and go home because “I’d rather die at home than stuck in my car.”

— Brett Mineer (@MineerBrett) July 5, 2021

And the connection used last night, the gated road from Qu’Appelle Boulevard to the lower part of Rose Hill Road, will eventually be paved, once that stretch becomes more developed. Expected within 10 years. (2/2) #Kamloops #JuniperRidge @RadioNLNews

— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) July 2, 2021