Small B.C. community surrounded by wildfires facing more ER closures

Another temporary emergency room closure in 100 Mile House is raising concerns as wildfires continue to threaten the region.

The emergency room department at 100 Mile District General Hospital is closed from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and is expected to be closed for the same stretch on Sunday.

Anyone needing emergency care is being directed to Cariboo Memorial Hospital in Williams Lake, about 95 kilometres away.

“No time is a good time to have an ER closed,” 100 Mile Mayor Maureen Pinkney told Global News.

“I mean, emergency rooms need to be open 24-7. For us, a normal summer does still at least double our population. We have a lot of recreation area here, family comes to visit family. So we can go from a surrounding area that we service of 20,000 all the way up to 40,000.”

Pinkney said this year there is heightened concern as wildfires continue to burn in the region and hotels are packed.

She said that telling people to drive to Williams Lake is an issue because it is an hour’s drive when the road and weather conditions are good.

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“They’re going from our smoky skies through another fire halfway to Williams Lake through more smoke,” Pinkney said.

“If that road gets closed, that fire right now is under control, but had it been closed, then they’d have to go two hours south. And that main route is also closed through Clinton. So then they have to detour around through Highway 24. So, you know, to have all those people here already stressed from the imminent smoke and dealing with those problems, then also had to add to that the difficulty getting to a hospital.”

This is the 36th closure for the ER so far this year, up from 27 closures in 2025.

Pinkney said the emergency room is an essential service and they shouldn’t be allowed to close, but she realizes that people need time off and want to take vacations in the summer.

She said their council travelled to Victoria and met with ministers about the ER closures last November and while the provincial government said it is working on it, Pinkney said it is not working fast enough.

“It is huge and these road closures and all these fires- it’s one thing if you have one fire,” she added.

“Right now, so much of our community that we serve lives even up to an hour away from our community. And so they’re already choosing when they leave home which direction to go. Just if the ER is closed, now they’re going, okay, well, we can’t go that way; there’s a wildfire. We can’t go that way; there’s a wildfire. How do they get any help?

“The best thing that I can suggest that they do is call 911, even if they’re able to transport themselves somewhere. We do have extra paramedics working through ER closures, so call 911.”

Global News has reached out to Interior Health for comment.