Lakeside properties on a gravel road, with about 200 logging slash piles standing in the cutblocks around them.
Where North Lake sits, and the other places we attend
around Egmont. Every name on the map is a link.
The lake sits south of Egmont Road
North Lake was adopted as an official BC geographical name on 27 July 1945, on map sheet 92G/12, centred at 49.74833 north and 123.97 west. It lies immediately south of Egmont Road, about two kilometres north of Klein Lake. The regional district's evacuation plan counts it as one of four communities in this zone, and it is the only one of them not on salt water.
The plan describes a small rural community "accessed from Egmont Road off Highway 101", where "Lakeside rural properties line a portion of the lake", and where there are "Few permanent families with children". It records that "North Lake is then connected by the narrow loose gravel North Lake Service Road to the popular Klein Lake Campground". N Lake Road itself is single-lane gravel.
The exit is a gravel road feeding a road with no alternative
The regional district writes two sentences about how people here get out. Egmont Road "is a critical evacuation route for the community of Egmont and North Lake", and "N Lake Road is also considered an extension of Egmont Road for this plan." Egmont Road is the only vehicle route between Egmont and Highway 101. So the way out of North Lake is a gravel lane onto a road that is itself the single connection to the highway, and the plan's wildfire hazard entry for this zone notes that "Limited egress routes in rural communities may impact evacuation route options" and rates wildfire risk "High in Egmont according to SCRD HRVA".
The plan's estimated total evacuation time for the zone is 48.9 minutes, with single-vehicle travel of 35.2 minutes.
About 200 slash piles stand in the cutblocks
CBC News reported in 2024 that roughly 200 slash piles were left in the clearcuts around North and Klein lakes near Egmont, about 80 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. The piles are three metres high and sit along roadsides, near the Suncoaster hiking trail and near the Klein Lake campground. Several logging companies cleared the blocks in 2022 and 2023; Prime Length Timber Limited was responsible for seven of an estimated 21 problem cutblocks. BC Timber Sales and the shíshálh Nation co-manage the timber licences. Residents had been told at community consultation that the slash would be burned in the rainy season. It was not, the safe burning window closed, and the work moved into a second summer. The Ministry of Forests confirmed it was investigating potential non-compliance after a site inspection on 1 May.
Marcia Thomson, a North Lake resident, helped organise the opposition.
We see it as an accident waiting to happen...there's not a lot of ways out for people who live there.
Marcia Thomson, North Lake resident, CBC News, 2024
Coast Reporter later published a letter headlined "Keep promise to North Lake residents, remove slash piles". Prime Length's president said human-caused fire risk existed before the logging and would remain afterwards.
Cell coverage is recorded as poor or nonexistent
The evacuation plan states that at North Lake "The cell phone coverage is poor or nonexistent." An alarm panel that dials out over a cell connection may not reach anyone from here. Electoral Area A, which contains this lake, recorded 3,039 residents and 1,562 occupied private dwellings across 1,901 square kilometres at the 2021 census.
The community plan lists four regional district water service areas in this plan area: Egmont, Earls Cove, South Pender Harbour and North Pender Harbour. North Lake is in none of them. Houses draw from wells or lake intakes and dispose of sewage on site. There are no hydrants. Neither road here belongs to the regional district: the SCRD states that "Maintenance of the Sunshine Coast Highway and all roads in the rural areas on the Sunshine Coast are the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation and Transit", under the Capilano Highway Services contract.
North Lake does not appear on the regional district's fire page, which names four served communities: the village, Earls Cove, Ruby Lake, and Sakinaw Lake's north shore. That is so although the evacuation plan treats it as one of its four communities and names Egmont Road as its evacuation route. The hall at 5592 Egmont Road is on the same road, between the lake and the village, and it is 53.5 kilometres and 50 minutes from there to the RCMP detachment in Sechelt.
What a check at North Lake covers
The gravel access road and its ditches, washouts and windfall, reported before an owner drives in
Gate, driveway and turning space, since a fire truck needs the same width you do
Doors, windows, sheds and the boat or trailer parked on the lot
Heating running and holding, or the system drained and the valve closed and tagged
Well pump and pressure tank, or the lake intake line and screen
Septic tank lid and field, and wet ground over the field after rain
Woody debris, slash and dry brush built up against the buildings, and the state of the clearcut edge nearest the house
Propane tank, regulator and fittings, and the smell of gas at the appliances
Findings written up and photographed on the day, since a phone call from the property may not connect
Insurance on a house standing empty usually depends on a condition about attendance: someone competent inspects it on a fixed cycle through the heating months, in many policies with four days as the limit, unless the supply is closed and drained down. Your insurer's figure is the one that counts, so read the document rather than a rule of thumb.
What it costs
A scheduled check at North Lake is
$55 a visit, plus
$10 travel. The travel charge is the same
everywhere between Gibsons and Egmont. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
See the full price list.
Where these facts come from
Every figure, date and quotation on this page was taken from one of these. They are
listed so you can read them yourself.
