Wildland firefighters “nearly paid with their lives” to evacuate people near the White Rock Lake fire on Thursday night, according to the Public Safety Minister.

Mike Farnworth said crews had to go door-to-door in the Monte Lake area to evacuate a small number of people who had previously defied evacuation orders.

“While our crews were able to get the residents to safety, these brave firefighters very nearly paid with their lives. This extremely was traumatic for all those involved and should never happened. By any measure, this was completely unacceptable,” Farnworth said in a news conference Friday.

“So I ask that everyone in a fire-affected area: take stock of what’s important, and what you may be putting on the line. Once an area is on evacuation order, you need to get out immediately. This is an extremely challenging time for our province, but we will see the other side of this fire season.”

Farnworth did not offer details, including how many people had to be tactically evacuated.

Much of Monte Lake and Paxton Valley was destroyed by the fire on Thursday, but the extent of the losses is not yet clear. There have been no reports of anyone being killed or injured from the fire.

Farnworth says the White Rock Lake fire has become the fire of top priority in the province, out of the 300 active wildfires as of Friday afternoon. There are 99 firefighters and 125 structural protection personnel at the blaze, as well as eight tree fallers.

The current situation, with the fire at 45,000 hectares, has led to questions on whether it may have been avoidable.

Local ranchers reportedly were told not to action the fire on the day it broke out, on July 13, when it was reportedly 10 hectares in size. By the next day, when the BC Wildfire Service responded, the blaze was 300 hectares and growing.