A number of people ordered evacuated in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District on Thursday night arrived at an evacuation centre in Kamloops to find it closed.

The centre at McArthur Island Park is closed between midnight and 9 a.m.

People who were shut-out were told to come back this morning after either spending the night with friends or family or in a hotel, even though vacancy rate in Kamloops is extremely low right now.

“We’re reviewing that to see whether we could extend it or whether we need to,” Byron McCorkell, the deputy director of the Kamloops Emergency Operations Centre, said.

“We understand that it happened to a few folks last night and obviously that’s not what we want to see happen but this is an emerging situation and we’re doing the best we can.”

The evacuation order for Pritchard came around 10 p.m., with some not finding out about it until 12:30 a.m. Friday morning, as mentioned during a live broadcast on Radio NL.

“There are some folks that don’t have options and that’s what the ESS information centre is there for. It’s if you need help, we’re there,”McCorkell added.

“Having said that we have volunteers working the ESS and so we have operating hours.”

Friday morning, the City of Kamloops put the call out for more Emergency Support Services (ESS) volunteers. So far, 80 ESS volunteers and supporting partners have provided over 7,000 hours of support to people since June 29, according to Rebecca Cooke, the City’s ESS Coordinator.

“We couldn’t provide the level of support to evacuees without their dedication, kindness, and extensive knowledge. We are very proud of these volunteers, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have them on our team,” she said.

Speaking on the NL Noon Report, McCorkell says the situation underscores the need for households to make a plan, noting part of that plan should contain contingencies.

“Find a friend, family or location where you can go to be safe,” he said. “Have that in mind now so that if an alert moves to an order, you are simply moving into that plan that you have conceived for yourself, ready to make changes, if needed.”

In a statement, the City of Kamloops says its Emergency Operations Centre will remain open through the weekend.

“We are in regular contact with BC Wildfire regarding both the Tremont Creek fire and the White Rock Lake fire,” staff said, in a statement.

Barnhartvale, Campbell Creek and Dallas remain on evacuation alert, and residents are being encouraged to sign up for the Voyent Alert app so they can be notified in case of an emergency.