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Residents of a B.C. community ravaged by wildfire this summer are calling for more local training and fire protection equipment to fight future fires.
More than a month and a half after it was discovered in the Okanagan, the Bald Range wildfire is still burning and is classified as under control.
But for the people impacted by the massive blaze that’s believed to have led to a death and burned homes and businesses to the ground, the impact of the fire is far from over. Samantha Kowalski, pregnant with her third child, said that as the fire burned closer, things became chaotic.
“On either side of me, houses, vehicles, everything was just burning, exploding,” she recalled. When she would return, her home, like many of her neighbours’ places, would be in ashes.
“It looks like a bomb went off. There’s just nothing left,” Kowalski said. Related: ‘I can’t go backwards’: Mom who lost home and business in Faulder fire tries to rebuild her life Police have said that an 80-year-old woman, who lived in nearby Meadow Valley, died suddenly during the evacuation. Mounties believe her death was a result of the wildfire.
“I just feel sad. You know, I feel sad for our family, and I feel sad for everybody else. It was very traumatic, and we’re very lucky we didn’t lose more people,” Kowalksi told CTV News during an interview at her property that’s been decimated by the blaze. She said as the fire approached, neighbours warned neighbours.
“We never got an alert. There was one police car we seen drive down the road, and it turned around…they had lights and sirens on, and they just turned around and drove right back out,” she said. Erick Thompson, an information officer with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, said everything was done to alert people.
“The conditions were so dry that there’s only so much you can do when a fire moves that quickly,” he explained. “The processes are in place to issue a Voyent alert notification, which the RDOS did at 6:51 pm on the night of August 7. The RDOS right away, at ten to 6 p.m., we put a notification out: ‘We’re aware of a wildfire, be aware of this in the area.
’” He said the emergency operations centre also requested region-wide BC emergency alerts. But Kowalski said much of Faulder was already burning by 6:45 pm when she drove out that night. Thompson said teams initiated a tactical evacuation almost immediately “when it was determined this was an incredibly fast-moving and dangerous wildfire. ” Further explaining that a tactical evacuation includes RCMP, conservation officers, and search and rescue literally going door to door.
Calls for support More than 100 properties in the area had homes or buildings burn, and locals don’t want it to happen again. Kowalski said she and other residents want government help for training and equipment so they can fight some of the small fires before they get out of control.
“We’re trying to fundraise for that, to be able to get maybe a fire truck or equipment on a trailer, pumps, water tanks, to be able to respond quickly to the fires that are found,” she said. She’s calling on the regional district to step up. Thompson said a provincial government program does exist, and fire brigades have been established in other communities, but it isn’t an easy process.
“To get to a level where they can at least support, there are processes in place that they can look into and certainly with the RDOS, we would be happy to try and connect them with those resources and with the province,” Thompson said. CTV News tried to speak with the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, but were told she was unavailable.
A statement from her ministry stated, in part, that “The Province recognizes that every emergency provides opportunities to learn and this year will be no different. ” The Ministry of Forests said FireSmart Community Funding and Supports is one of two funding streams under the Community Resiliency Investment program that helps communities “build local capacity and reduce wildfire risk. ” As for the people of Faulder, they are trying to help their neighbours, many of whom did not have insurance.
“We’re just trying to fill in some gaps: food, clothing,” said Kowalski, adding that the community’s needs change daily. She said people without insurance, now living in RV’s, will need help before winter comes and things freeze.
“We’re needing winter stuff. Some of us lost things like tires, winter tires,” she explained.
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