In September 1868, a saloon fire burned the town of Barkerville to the ground. More than 150 years later, another blaze is threatening the place its website describes as the "largest living history museum in western North America." First discovered on July 20, the Antler Creek wildfire rapidly grew in B.
C.'s central Interior — to the point that two days later, authorities issued evacuation orders for several communities, including Barkerville and the nearby community of Wells, approximately 120 kilometres southeast of Prince George. Now, the B.
C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) is working to protect the national historic site. Richard Wright, the founding president of Friends of Barkerville, said he worries about the potential loss to B.
C. of such an important heritage resource. WATCH | How crews are protecting Barkerville Historic Town: Wright first came to Barkerville in 1983 to write a book about it.
He then stayed and worked there for almost four decades, including as one of the interpreters dressed in historically accurate costumes to educate and entertain tourists about the Cariboo Gold Rush that helped shape B.C.'s development.
"It would be more than tragic to lose it," he said. "You could reconstruct what looks like Barkerville, but you can't reconstruct the theatre, which dates to the 1930s, and many other buildings that go back to the 1860s, 1870s. They're irreplaceable.
" LISTEN | The importance of protecting Barkerville : Radio West 9:32 A fire in the Cariboo is threaten.