A tragic lesson on why evacuation orders should always be heeded...

One person has died and another is seriously injured after refusing to obey an evacuation order due to a wildfire in B.C.'s Cariboo region.

The two people who refused to leave a fire zone near Meldrum Creek, west of Williams Lake, were involved in two separate accidents on Sunday.

Officials with the Cariboo Regional District have released few details, but say the two people ignored an evacuation order.

"These people were still within the evacuation area," said Shelly Burich, who speaks for the Cariboo Regional District emergency operations centre.

"When there is an evacuation order in place, there is limited access to emergency vehicles and emergency services. When they're under an evacuation order, those roads are closed, so that doesn't allow anybody to come in and be able to help them."