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Wednesday, July 10, 2019 | Your community newspaper since 1916

Kid’s book honours local fire fighters Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca It isn’t uncommon for kids to look upon firefighters as heroes, but in Prince George on Tuesday, there was some reverse admiration happening at Fire Hall No. 1. Nathan McTaggart was in the city on a tour showing off his latest children’s book. McTaggart is 13 years old and his fresh title Brandy & Her Super Hero is the third book he and his father Keven have written together. All of them focus on first responders and some fantastical adventures. The McTaggart family lives in the Lower Mainland but the latest book is about a dog with agility skills who helps save a group of stranded fire fighters battling Cariboo wildfires. He stopped in places like Ashcroft, Cache Creek and Quesnel on his way to this most northerly spot on his junket, and he was headed to Williams Lake following his tours of Prince George fire halls. There he was scheduled to meet with T’exelcemc chief Willie Sellers who is also the author of children’s books. All of these places were deeply affected by recent wildfires, hence the young writer’s interest in the personal knowledge. “We had some crews go out,” to aid forest fire suppression efforts in neighbouring communities, explained Marcel Profeit, the city’s chief fire prevention officer, one of many at the fire department who spent time talking with McTaggart. Profeit also explained how Prince George hosted thousands of evacuees from the very area in which Brandy & Her Super Hero is based. “This book hits home for us.” There was a quiet stream of firefighters pulling bills out of their wallets to buy their own copies of the book, intending them for the kids in their own lives. All the money raised from the three books he has written goes to various charities McTaggart has chosen. — see ‘FIREFIGHTERS, page 3

CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN

Nathan McTaggart shows Prince George Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Cliff Warner his third children’s book, Brandy & Her Super Hero, about the Cariboo forest fires.

B.C. wildfire damage a Murder trial focuses on tracks tiny fraction of last year found at crime scene Randy SHORE Vancouver Sun

The area consumed by wildfires in the province so far this season is less than one per cent of the area burned in each of the past two summers, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. Since April 1, 466 fires have been recorded in B.C. but just 11,568 hectares burned, more than half of that in the Prince George fire region. That’s down from 2,117 fires and 1,354,284 hectares burned last year, the worst on record. Last year at this time fires had destroyed more than four times as much forest, according to wildfire service spokeswoman Kyla Fraser. “Fire activity is quiet right now, especially in the southern half of the province,” she said. “We’ve had rain over the weekend, so fire danger there is very low.” Persistent dry weather across Alaska, Yukon and the northern reaches of the western provinces will likely continue through much of the summer, leading to a greater fire risk, according to Richard Carr of the Canadian Forest Service. “…Southern B.C. seems reluctant to dry out, so if problems occur, they will likely be in late July and will not likely be as explosive as in the past two summers,” he said in an email. “While much of British Columbia is forecast to have above normal severity, the moist first half of July (except the northwest corner) may not give enough time to result

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in a severe situation in August,” he said. Since 2009, an average of 400,000 hectares are burned each fire season in B.C. The lowest total in the past decade came in 2011, when just 12,604 hectares burned. The only fire of note burning in B.C. as of Monday is at Alkali Lake, which consists mainly of holdover fires that have been smouldering underground since last year’s massive 121,215-hectare blaze. As a side benefit, every air quality station in B.C. is forecasting low health risk due to smoke. A nine-hectare fire that triggered an evacuation alert in Pender Harbour on the Sunshine Coast is in the final stages of mopup, according to wildfire service information officer Alan Berry. “They haven’t called it completely out yet because there were a couple of areas that are hard to access, but the crews are out,” he said. “With precipitation coming, they will wait for some rain and do a final patrol.” Rain on the south coast over the weekend included a “couple of hundred” lightning strikes and at least 10 small fires, maybe more. “Cloud cover is making detection difficult, but once they lift we should be able to get out with a helicopter or a plane and see if there are any new starts,” he said. Cool weather has definitely helped keep a lid on the damage caused by fires and more rain is the in the forecast this week over much of the province. — see LIGHTNING, page 3

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Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnielsen@pgcitizen.ca Crown prosecution closed its case Tuesday against a man accused of participating in a double murder with testimony from an expert witness regarding two key pieces of evidence found at the crime scene. Perry Andrew Charlie faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Thomas Burt Reed of Burns Lake and David Laurin Franks of Prince George and a count of attempted murder with a firearm in relation to Bradley William Knight, the soul survivor of the Jan. 25, 2017 targeted shooting. Co-accused Seaver Tye Miller and Joshua Steven West have each pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and Aaron Ryan Moore to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and await sentencing. Prince George RCMP Cpl. Robb Kean, a forensic identification specialist, testified he recovered impressions of tire tracks and footware investigators found in the snow alongside Foothills Boulevard near North Nechako Road following the earlymorning incident. While he was able to say the tire tracks came from the same brand of tires found on the alleged getaway vehicle, it was as far as Kean could go, saying there were

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no distinctive marks that would have set them apart from those found on other vehicles. Similarly, Kean was able to say the tread from footwear found at four spots at the scene came from the same brand of shoe seized from Perry’s home. But beyond heavy wear, particularly on the heel, there was no evidence to link the shoe prints to Perry. He also agreed with defence counsel Jason LeBlond that the impression may not perfectly match Perry’s shoe size. It is Crown prosecution’s theory that Franks had offended someone in the local drug culture, a hit had been ordered on him and he was lured to the spot under the pretext of carrying out a drug deal. Reed had offered to drive Franks to the site and Knight was along for the ride. Earlier in the trial, Knight testified he had been sitting in the back of the car when gunfire broke out and dove to the floor. He was clipped in the shoulder and hip but survived. Knight said he called 911 after hearing a van that had carried the attackers drive away but didn’t see the assailants. Defence counsel has elected to not call evidence. Crown counsel Marie-Louise Ahrens will deliver closing arguments on Thursday and LeBlond will follow on Friday. The judge-alone trial is being held before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church.

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