Republished October 05, 2016 - 9:17 PM
Original Publication Date October 05, 2016 - 2:55 PM
TERRACE, B.C. - A police incident that saw the RCMP evacuate homes on two streets in a small community in northwest British Columbia has ended.
The Mounties said in a release Wednesday evening that the area in the 3900 block of Mountainview Ave. and Sande Ave. in Thornhill, near Terrace was safe and residents could return home.
Earlier in the day, about two dozen houses had been evacuated. Const. Angela Rabut wouldn't release details of why the evacuation was ordered.
RCMP said the investigation into the incident that prompted the police action was ongoing.
Natural gas in the area was shut off, but police said it would be turned back on Wednesday evening.
Staff at Thornhill Primary School and Thornhill Elementary School phoned parents of students who live in the evacuated area to let them know their children were being kept safely at school until they can be picked up, said Superintendent Katherine McIntosh of Coast Mountains Board of Education School District.
Students who live outside of the affected area were allowed to go home as usual, she said. Some buses were being slightly rerouted.
McIntosh said the RCMP hadn't told the school district what exactly was happening in the evacuated area, but that it involved one house.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2016