One wildfire evacuation story

An image of our condominium behind an approaching helicopter captured Saturday, August 9. We live in the left unit in the building on the right, top two floors. So far, our home is safe, but I suspect very smelly and smoky. From CBC News.

So much for the lazy, now hazy days of summer in the South Okanagan of British Columbia. Kathie, Juno, and I are evacuated from our lovely home in our little town of Summerland due to the Bald Creek Wildfire which now surrounds the Town of Summerland. A fast-moving furious fiery swirl of destruction, flaming embers spiral in multiple directions continuing to ignite new bursts of flame. Wildfire fighters describe the out-of-control inferno as the worst they have ever seen. That’s saying something given historic fires in Fort MacMurray and Jasper in Alberta, along with more recent fires here in the South Okanagan and throughout BC including Lytton.

We are safe with our daughter and partner in Nelson near the US border where we daily receive heavy billows of smoke from fires as close as Spokane, Washington. We will remain here until we are allowed to return in a staged re-entry.

We are fortunate; many are not. There are reports of long lines and raw tension at evacuation centres back home. Approximately 12,000 Summerland evacuees joined with an additional 8,000 regionally displaced persons; so many lives are agonizingly disrupted.

Information is sparse and conflicting. There is a lot of unverified, and it seems incorrect information being shared on local social media channels. A small number of evacuees know beyond doubt that their homes are destroyed, an outcome confirmed by door cameras available when the power was on. (Power in most places is now, thankfully restored.) A very few images or videos provided by those who chose to remain have confirmed for some residents that their property or workplaces remain intact; for now. The image above tells us that our home remains intact though we are uncertain about the homes of friends who live only minutes away from us.

Reports from a few fire fighters confirm that the outlying community of Faulder is completely destroyed. (This likely includes the home of one member of our church.) We also know that some homes in Summerland itself  have perished though we know few if any details. Even for folks such as ourselves who have grounds for optimism, the challenge is being “settled, though unsettled.” For many others who face real loss of space and place, of animals, of food and other touchstones, the experience is beyond my own imagining.

Just a few days ago, last Friday morning, I visited with some friends; I buried a woman in our church yard; and I watched the opening innings of a baseball game. Shortly after 6 p.m. Kathie invited me outside to see the sky. Over the next three hours the view from our balcony looked darker and foreboding; orange light and the detail of flames began to appear; an apocalypse seemed nigh. Fortunately for us, we were scheduled to travel the next day, so the car was partially packed. We advanced our timeline, just in case. Around 9 p.m., while under an evacuation alert, we decided to take the next step; we gathered some photo albums and a few legal documents, some food, and electronics. Some friends invited us to stay with them in neighbouring Penticton where we joined with two other evacuated couples. (We actually had a good time together.) And we are now with family members several hours away in Nelson.

We are so very fortunate. We had time, opportunity, resources, community, and so much more. A glimmer of light amongst this chaos is the many acts of great generosity offered and received. I encourage everyone to support the Red Cross and other community-based initiatives. This is a time for all of us to step up and share our very best self with the community and especially to those in need.

A day before the fire erupted some friends from church had coffee together. I brought up the issue of wildfires burning throughout BC and elsewhere in Canada. I suggested that we need to move off of fossil fuel dependence given its negative effect on the climate. We are a diverse group of workers and professionals with varying political views. I was surprised that no one really engaged beyond a shrug and a sigh. I think our next coffee klatch will go further and deeper into such matters. Here in paradise we are just as much affected, and implicated as others.

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