Water shortage in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., after apartment burns, displaces dozens

Andrew Kurjata · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 09, 2025 2:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

People successful Tumbler Ridge, B.C., person been asked to temporarily halt utilizing washing machines, dishwashers and sprinklers aft a play flat occurrence forced firefighters to gully heavy from the community's h2o supply.

The blaze broke retired on Saturday at the Spieker Apartments building and rapidly engulfed 51 units. Flames also spread to adjacent woods, which the nationalist has been asked to enactment distant from due to the fact that of the hazard of weakened trees falling owed to precocious winds.

The occurrence came arsenic adjacent wildfires person forced evacuations and chopped disconnected roadworthy travel, fuelled successful portion by an ongoing drought that is entering its 3rd year.

Mayor Darryl Krakowka says determination were nary injuries reported successful the fire, but that having truthful galore radical displaced successful the tiny assemblage of conscionable implicit 2,300 radical successful northeast B.C. was impacting the full municipality.

"It's a beauteous small, close-knit assemblage and to maine that is family," helium said. "I privation to marque definite they cognize each the assemblage is present for them."

Food and covering drives arsenic good arsenic fundraising efforts are good underway, but due to the fact that of the tiny size of Tumbler Ridge, immoderate displaced residents are having to question enactment services successful the neighbouring assemblage of Dawson Creek, astir 100 kilometres distant by road.

Additionally, the effort of warring the fire — which included overnight monitoring for spot fires successful the adjacent woods implicit the weekend — person depleted the district's h2o supply.

"Our h2o reservoirs are highly debased owed to ongoing occurrence suppression efforts, and conservation is captious astatine this time," the territory said successful a written update posted to Facebook Sunday.

"We are asking each residents to restrict h2o usage immediately, including indoor uses specified arsenic washing machines, dishwashers, and non-essential activities."

The update besides said the community is inactive moving to get a wide representation of however galore radical person been displaced.

Fire Chief Dustin Curry said the depletion was solely owed to the flat fire, arsenic B.C. Wildfire Service crews usage different h2o sources.

Tumbler Ridge is among galore communities successful northeastern B.C. nether important wildfire menace arsenic the portion enters its 3rd consecutive twelvemonth of important drought conditions, causing the country to beryllium highly susceptible to burns.

Wildfire crews successful the portion are dealing with respective important blazes, including the adjacent Kiskatinaw River wildfire, which has forced the evacuation of Kelly Lake, 81 kilometres eastbound of Tumbler Ridge. 

That occurrence is moving eastward and has dispersed into Alberta.