The Columbia-Shuswap Regional District says some residents of the North Shuswap could return home within the next two weeks.

Emergency Operations Centre Director, Derek Sutherland, says the CSRD is waiting for the BC Wildfire Service to determine that the fire risk has passed.

“We don’t have anything specific, unfortunately,” Sutherland said, during a Friday afternoon public meeting for CSRD residents.

“I don’t think we’re as long as two weeks away in a lot of our order areas. I’m hoping we are going to have people back sooner than that. But again, that is just a hope and a gut feeling.”

Sutherland also said there are a number of other risks that will need to be assessed before evacuation orders can be lifted.

“Once the threat of wildfire has passed, we do have to assess the area for other threats such as danger trees, power lines, any environmental contaminations that may be causing issues,” he said.

“So we are working with the provincial authorities to try and determine if the areas are actually safe, so that when we lift the orders on the area, people can go home safely.”

CSRD spokesperson Tracy Hughes also said officials have to ensure that the area is safe for people from all walks of life.

“So that means safety for the five-year-old whose mother might be distracted doing some cleaning and zips out of the house,” Hughes said. “It also means safety for someone who may have a walker or maybe mobility challenged.”

“We really have to focus on what safety means to every single person that goes back into those areas because everyone’s life is equally as important.”

In the meantime, Sutherland says a bus tour for North Shuswap residents who have lost homes is being worked on.

“That could be sometime next week,” he said Thursday. “This is an important step that needs to be taken before evacuation orders can be lifted for affected areas.”

Last Friday, the CSRD said at least 131 structures within its jurisdiction were destroyed, with another 37 were partially damaged.

Information Officer, Tim Conrad, also said Thursday that the CSRD has to go through “various processes” before people can access the area.

“We are doing our best to make that as quick as possible but as you will see in time, the damage is quite extensive, and we have to overcome quite a bit,” Conrad said.

According to the CSRD, there are about 6,800 residents still on evacuation order due to the 430 square kilometre Bush Creek East fire. Another 5,200 are on evacuation alert.

Another 85 structures on Skwla̓x te Secwepemcúl’ecw land were destroyed by the blaze, while the Thompson-Nicola Regional District said there were nine properties in the southern Adams Lake area that had some kind of structural impacts.