Original subtitles

[♪♪♪]

[Paul] The fire started

in the backcountry west of Kelowna.

It was a wildfire of interest to BC Wildfire Service.

Combined with the weather forecast,

we were starting to get a little bit concerned,

because it was growing very quickly.

Basically, it was doubling in size every hour.

When it started looking like a volcano

up behind Bear Creek Park,

it really indicated

that we were gonna be dealing with a major situation.

It was blowing up like a volcano.

It looked like a towering column of smoke and fire.

Traders Cove is the first community

east of where the fire was,

so we started staging and preparing

for the possibility

of it actually dropping down into Traders Cove.

Due to the cold front that came in,

that process happened very quickly,

so as the wind picked up,

the ferocity of the fire and the energy of the fire

became much bigger and quicker.

If there is no wind and the fire burns,

it doesn't go very fast.

In a case like this,

where we had 30- to 50- kilometre-an-hour winds,

as the fire gets driven

and travels through the low-level fuels,

the trees start candling...

and when the trees candle,

those explosions of fire

throw large embers of burning chunks of wood

into the travelling wind above them.

That's what basically started the fire

on the east side of the lake.

Our embers travelled through the upper-level winds

and started igniting the east side of the lake...

so we were just fighting fire along the whole west side,

and then eventually over into Lake Country and Kelowna.

[♪♪♪]

[Al] This fire started

on the south aspect of Penrose Mountain,

lightning strike way up high on the mountain.

We had the helitack crews in here working it

for the first week and a half.

It's mountain goat territory.

It's just impossible to get there,

and so they felt they had to back off, and...

she's a-goin' now.

Today's the first real blowout on the fire,

so I think there's a little bit of twitchiness,

and people are looking up the hill

and wondering what's going on.

There's 275 structures on this lake,

so I don't think there can ever be enough resources for this.

It looks like an atomic bomb just went off.

[Adam] So, we do structural protection.

Right now we're going around and making sure

there's a bubble of humidity around each property,

so what we're doing

is kind of a prep-and-go situation.

We prepare the houses, get them ready,

and then, time comes,

we turn everything on and get out.

This is a heritage cabin here, a parent's,

so this is really important to them,

so they wanted to make sure that it was protected.

[Adam] There's definitely some challenges out here

in terms of some older houses, some heritage homes

that really need to be protected,

and just the fuel load around them.

The vegetation is so thick and so dense,

with a lot of deadfall down on the ground,

so if fire was to come in here, it's gonna be pretty intense.

We got two sprinklers on each peak of that house,

and it's 100% gravity-fed, so... yeah.

[Adam] But yeah, old homes always cause a challenge for us.

The big thing for our sprinklers,

if we create a big humidity dome around the structure...

How are you guys doing on that last sprinkler?

We're almost ready to fire on this end.

[Adam] ...and just up that RH level,

those embers, when they do try to penetrate,

will just get snuffed out.

[starting pump]

Let's get those Mark-3s started

and pump some water out of the lake.

Okay. Let's see it. Let's see if my vision worked.

[water spraying]

We've got a good moisture bubble around the house.

It's coming kinda 10, 15 feet out from the home,

so, pretty awesome to see when it works.

It's good that these guys are here,

and they have a really good setup

and a really good group of guys and people.

This is stuff that happens.

It's unfortunate, it's sickening to a point,

but, yeah, just keep our fingers crossed,

and whatever happens, happens.

It's nature,

and we can only do the best we can.

[Lee-Anne] Southeast Fire Centre, X-ray Alpha India.

Just leaving 2350

and headed to 2170.

This fire started about three weeks ago.

It looks like most of the growth has stayed to the north...

and then it's actually crossed the main drainage there

and started another fire on the other side of the drainage,

but all of that is in upper elevation,

so for now, it's just gonna remain monitor only.

Basically, when these fires start in these remote areas,

what we try and do

is let them burn as they naturally would.

Initially, like, the impact is quite great on wildlife

because obviously they can't be in here

while it's burning,

but post-wildfire,

there's a huge rush of nutrients to the ground,

and you see green shoots and tons of berries,

and it kind of regenerates an area

that's been not growing as well as it should,

and that's kind of that, like, natural process

that we're trying to let happen more now,

because we've learned over the years

that we're doing it wrong

when we're putting them out all the time,

and we've reached a point, too,

where we just can't put them out anymore.

Uh-oh, there's a new fire.

That's not good.

We're going to have to think

about doing something up here, I think.

Yeah.

This might be a rappel fire...

lucky guys.

Let's get a pin first.

How big is it?

I'll call it a point two.

Okay, let's look for access here real quick.

I don't know if there's anything.

Geographic location is Abrahamson Creek.

Coordinates are 50 32.396 by 117 24.184,

at an elevation of 4000 feet.

Yeah, recommend a rappel target just to create access,

and if they require extra personnel,

they can cut a spot a little bit closer.

Probability of success at this time would be high.

And Kootenay Lake Fire Zone, it's X-ray Alpha India.

Hey, Art, so, yeah, the fire's not going anywhere.

It's kind of just skunking around

in the timber line adjacent to the cut block.

I recommended rappel just because

the hike is looking like

it's greater than a kilometre to get to it,

but it might require more personnel,

so maybe they could cut an access for them,

and then we could put two crews on it maybe tomorrow.

Okay, sounds good.

[♪♪♪]

[Leslie] A rapattack crew

is a three- to four-person crew.

Come into your descent device.

[Leslie] We act as initial attack...

Exiting motion now.

...and we rappel to remote-access fires,

and deal with the fire,

or if the fire's too big,

it's usually a helipad that we'll build

so we can get in a unit crew or additional resources.

We also have the capabilities and training to do medevac,

and that is our medical extraction,

so we would use the evac harness,

and that's a quick way to get someone off of the hill,

and then, for something more traumatic,

we have a sked kit.

For a rap crew to be operational,

we need a certified faller and a level-3 first aid.

All right, clear for door below six deep.

Okay, check live intercom. How do you read?

I get five squared.

Five squared as well.

[Leslie] We also have what we call "HOTs".

That means Helicopter Operation Technicians,

and they're trained to deploy us.

We all know the HOTs pretty well.

They were once rappellers.

Okay, door's open. Reset master caution, please.

Master caution reset.

[Leslie] We'll fly over the fire.

We'll do our recce flights

and talk about where our escape routes would be,

viable water, if it's around,

and basically, what's our plan once we hit the ground,

and then, when we're ready to deploy,

our HOT will signal to the first rappeller,

so that would be me,

as the crew leader, you're the first person,

and I'll go out into suspension.

And you're clear straight left.

I discovered I had a fear of heights, um,

during my recruit training.

It took three years before that fear stopped bugging me,

and now, it's just, like, "Yep, I'm up here.

Yep, I'll go down."

[♪♪♪]

Once I'm on the ground, I'm looking for danger trees.

I'm making sure our area is clear,

and then I can communicate

if need be, like, no, abort, or whatever I need to do

if it's unsuitable for the next members to come down.

Once the rappellers are on the ground,

then our gear bags will get deployed.

We have two gear bags.

One is our clean and one is our dirty.

Our clean will have our camping stuff,

as well as our bladder, hose, and our food,

then our dirty bag has our chainsaws,

our fuel, our stove for camping,

our hand tools, and our helipad kits,

so then we're self-sufficient for over 24 hours.

[♪♪♪]

So we'll camp until that fire's out,

or until our objective is complete.

And then be picked up

and then flown to a new target.

[Al] Gun Lake Fire Brigade was started

because we are two hours

from the nearest forestry base, which is Lillooet.

We've scrimped, scrounged, and saved every little penny

to, uh, try to build what we have now.

Most of my members are seniors,

100% volunteer.

Got a lot of heart,

but maybe not as many miles in us as we should have,

but our biggest challenge is, of course,

is always gonna be topography.

We're in the mountains.

Every day, Gun Lake will have a southwest wind,

uh, usually around 2:00 in the afternoon,

and if we have a fire going,

that's gonna give that fire a lot of energy.

It was a standard afternoon.

The wind was coming up,

and one of the members says, like,

"Oh... it's in the valley now."

At that point, I was talking to Forestry,

saying, "Hey, I think it's about time

that we start thinking about evacuation.

It's crossed all your trip lines."

We actually went into an evacuation order,

and, uh, that was Gun Lake Fire's responsibility

to, uh, get that order out.

We're here to help youse guys and work together.

The only thing we don't want

is panic when the evac will start.

Just like our area of responsibility,

it is the private properties around Gun Lake and Lajoie Lake.

That includes Hess Road.

So those, that is what the order covers,

all those properties in that area,

so... all right.

[sprinklers running]

We're just gonna grab this, and we're out of here, so...

Awesome. That's great news, guys.

I see some gas here.

Is that gas for the wajax?

Uh, that's dirty old gas.

Okay. If you wouldn't mind...

Actually, I'll-I'll...

If you wouldn't mind just putting it somewhere else?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And just leave your pump set up down there,

and somebody will be by to run it.

-Okay, that's awesome. -I'll paste this.

Paste it on the door. That's good.

And you guys are on your way out, right?

Yeah. Yeah, on our way out, yeah.

We left the pump running.

Could we leave your gate open?

-The sprinklers on. -Oh, right.

Yeah, that's... they've asked

if you could leave the gate open

so the structural protection folks...

There's no lock on the gate.

Oh, perfect.

Yeah.

Well, the blue means that nobody was home,

and the pink means

that they've been notified of the evacuation order.

We've left a sticker on their door.

On to the next one.

[knocking on door]

A couple days ago, it really wasn't that bad.

Man, two days ago, when we got here,

it wasn't that bad.

It's a real thing now.

Currently, Dave is planning

on, uh, sticking around for a little while

to see how things play out.

Um...

Yeah, I think so. I think so.

We've got a pretty good fire hose.

Got a lot of pressure.

I think there's two of us here,

we can stop it from coming on the property,

we have a chance to save the cabin.

We've gotta make the effort.

It's been in the family many years,

and a lot of effort went into building this place.

We're not about to just fold over and let it...

and let it go,

so we're gonna stay and fight as long as we can.

So there's gonna be two people staying?

[Dave] Yes. Yup, two people staying.

No minors under the age of 17?

[Dave] No.

No seniors that may require assistance?

-No. -How many vehicles will be here?

-Two. Two vehicles. -Two vehicles.

[Dave] Yeah.

And I told you about the horn?

So, we, there is a siren on the top of the Fire Hall.

If you hear the three-minute blast

on that, on the siren,

that really is the cue to...

-To get out. -...to get out.

-Sure. -Okay?

[Dave] No, that makes sense.

Good luck to you, pal.

Yeah, yeah, you guys,

thank you so much for everything you're doing.

Thanks, Dave.

The community's really come together.

That's amazing. That's good.

Hopefully it stays together.

[Al] The whole evacuation worked well.

It was two hours.

We have 275 properties notified,

and we're wrapping it up, and telling the SLRD

that people were on the move and that,

and, uh, that's when the first fire incident,

when she came down to the lake the first time,

you know, that was a... pretty drastic moment.

[siren wailing]

[fire truck honking]

We'd better go.

Okay, kids, we gotta go. Shoes on, now!

[child] My stuffies and my blanket!

[engine starting]

It was pretty small, didn't really think anything of it,

uh, and now it's... definitely... not that way.

Well, I guess it was two days ago, now,

when it was, like, 32 hectares on the other side there,

and it was like, "Oh, it's fine, we'll get it."

And then 64...

and then it was like 300,

and then it was 500, 600, 1,100,

and now, what, it's like 6,800 hectares or something?

and just... it's crazy.

Just crazy.

Like, we heard early on

that there's potential for looting,

but they were pretty thorough going through the community,

and rightfully so.

Like, there's no reason to be up there

for anybody right now.

Those winds change, and honestly,

it jumped Okanagan Lake yesterday.

We're closer than that right now.

There's a white house at the very top up there,

and you can just go about straight down from that,

and my house is in that area.

[chuckling]

Yeah, that house burning is...

that's probably on my old street.

There's a lot of anxiety in people,

and, uh, we're trying to cope with it the best we can,

and, uh... the pets figure we're nervous,

they're nervous, so, yeah, it's anxious times.

Last night, we were in the car with my three dogs,

and again, we have to sleep in the car today

because we called a couple hotels, you know?

They said, "Oh, we're gonna charge $500 per night

with three dogs and three adults,"

and I said, "No, that's too much money for me."

I mean, we've gotta get something done about this.

It's crazy.

I mean, we're waiting for the whole place to burn down,

and it's just...

it's bad when they can grow,

so, you know, into such big fires.

[helicopter overhead]

My role on the fire

is to coordinate the helicopters.

We work with the operations staff

and the ground crews

to ensure that we know the operational plan

on the ground,

and then the helicopters

are brought in to support those tactics.

We've got three Bell 214 helicopters

with buckets on.

They're working on the north flank.

Those are heavy-lift aircraft.

They're really good at climbing,

and that's the steeper side of the fire.

And then on the south flank of the fire,

we have two tanked helicopters,

medium-lift Bell 205 and 212.

Those are working in more closely with the crews

and over the structures.

You're balancing the potential for fire growth

with the potential for protecting values.

We always focus on life and property,

and move down the line from there.

This fire's situated in a really unique place.

It experiences some pretty interesting winds

over the south end of the lake,

and they tend to downslope in here,

so from the helicopter operations perspective,

we're unable to work underneath that,

so we just continue to maintain

the base of the fire and the anchor,

and look for opportunities to get in underneath it.

[Al] We've gotten the evacuation done.

The fire took quite a jump,

and we got a call on the radio

that there was a structure involved.

We hadn't even made it around the south end of the lake yet,

and the structural protection specialist was coming back,

and he just said, "No, pulling out.

Everybody outta here.

It's way too involved now."

Gun Lake Fire from Marine Two.

[Carmen] It was very scary.

We were just finishing up

getting the notifications done

when the call came in

that the fire was down at the road.

From that moment forward, it just became surreal.

Everything was happening very quickly,

and the fire was moving too fast

for any actions to be taken,

and the crews had to be pulled back for safety.

[Al] We came back to the hall,

and Kevin Woronchak,

the structural protection specialist,

is like, "Al...

if there's any time you needed that siren,

it's right now."

[siren wailing]

We were watching it for a long time,

and the crews were handling it,

they had a small jump across the road,

and then all of a sudden, it just...

there was just so much energy,

and it just, and it blew up,

and all of a sudden, it went right across,

and just so much energy went over towards the north.

I just would have never predicted this at all.

It was ten minutes,

and then, you know, crews did the best they could.

[♪♪♪]

The spotting in this fuel type,

like, it's crazy when the winds are big,

it just takes, like, one ember to create a new spot,

and that creates, like,

a compounding effect of fire behaviour,

and it just, like, keeps running.

Um, yeah, it probably took, like, a 19-kilometre run today,

just doing, like,

a back-of-the-envelope calculation,

which is...

it is what it is.

[♪♪♪]

It might pop over that ridge quite nicely.

Being on a lot of interface fires,

this is probably one of the larger ones of scale,

but we're pretty comfy working alongside, like,

our local fire department, municipalities,

and assisting them with structural protection.

We tactically evac'ed the neighbourhood,

and we've just been kind of triaging houses

and neighbourhoods,

and so kind of doing the "bump and run" tactic

of once the fire backs down,

we extinguish the flame front,

and then we bump to the next neighbourhood,

and rinse and repeat.

My shift started at 7:30 this morning.

We were on a different incident to begin with,

so the time is...

2:00 in the morning.

I can't do the math right now,

but I think that's 20ish hours, maybe.

[helicopter whirring]

[Paul] As it came up across the mountain,

I heard this sound

that I'd never heard before or since.

It was a howling.

It wasn't, at the time, it wasn't anywhere near me,

it was way up on the mountain,

and it was just making a howling sound.

It was kind of unearthly.

It was freaky.

This is the firefight at the top of West Kelowna Road.

It's about 2:00 a.m.,

and these firefighters are engaged in, uh...

digging in deep,

uh, trying to save these homes

under some incredible conditions.

[Paul] Because we had such a long, hot, dry spell,

basically, everything down here was dry,

so grasses get consumed very quickly.

The fire travels very fast along the ground.

As it climbs into the canopies of the trees,

which are also completely dry,

the dead needles very quickly catch on fire,

and then the canopy tends to explode.

A travelling canopy fire at that ferocity

is, um... it's like a beast.

It's this freight train running down the mountain,

burning, you know, 100 to 150 feet high.

If the trees are 80 feet high,

it's burning twice as high as the trees are,

and it consumes everything in its way

that's at all flammable.

This is Westside Road,

just at the edge of the fire protection area,

looking back towards the community.

We deem this to be a no-go.

We're pulling back from here.

Power lines, fire burn on both sides of the road.

[Paul] If you're in there, it's all around you,

it makes its own wind, makes its own weather.

As fuel is being consumed, the heat rises,

and then cold air rushes in to replace it,

so, although wind direction can be prevalent

for a particular event,

it may not be behaving the same way inside the fire.

[♪♪♪]

So, our conditions on Bear Creek Road.

I penetrated in as far as I can.

As it was chasing us,

we sometimes drove through the fire,

and we were literally dodging power poles

coming down on the road,

and that was within the first three, four hours.

That original lane access

that you were working on with the power lines,

safe to access... bush truck,

or do we have to go in from another way?

[Paul] We had two injuries, both on the first night.

One was a wrist-bone break from one of the firefighters

that was in a position

where he had to chop through a power line with an axe,

and the other one was second- degree burns to their face.

Both members came back immediately

after being released from the hospital.

[sirens wailing]

That's when... it came down on the yacht club

which was right there.

The yacht club was...

The one that, I think, the first homes that burned.

Yeah, that was over a hundred years...

I didn't realize that was part of this.

Yeah, over a hundred years old. Yeah.

[Al] I had a couple of members

that their whole program, in the event of an evacuation,

was they were gonna stay,

and if it got really bad,

they were gonna go out in the middle of the lake

and sit in their boat and wait it out.

Well, the second time

that the fire came down to the lake,

and we had the fire tornado and all the rest of that,

massive fire activity...

they changed their story a little bit

about sitting in the boat on the lake,

'cause it wouldn't have been survivable.

We had the initial blow

that blew the fire up to the north end,

then the threat was the wind was gonna shift

and come from the north,

and start working down that whole side.

Stafford Road is sort of the beginning

of where the fire came down to visit us the second time.

This is really where, uh...

where the real... disaster begins.

Couldn't see anything that was going on.

I mean, we're just, literally, it's smoke.

There's tons of firebrand flying around.

We're not really conscious, we know the wind's up,

and we know that we're in an area that's, like,

"This isn't feeling comfortable. Just keep going." You know?

"Don't stop. Don't try to turn around.

Just... get to the other end of this."

That's the tree that got snapped off.

You see the top of it snaps, disappears into the tornado,

and then gets shot out the top, into the lake.

Look at that. It's crazy.

When we showed that video to the Forest Service,

they were like, "Holy." Like, "Wow."

Like, "We gotta get this to fire-behaviour guys."

The intensities here

were just absolutely incredible.

[Leslie] We have two equipment depot locations.

We're in the south,

and we have one in the north.

Our primary focus

is to service the field operations.

That's why we exist.

We purchase equipment.

We manage the equipment.

All of this equipment belongs to the general public.

It's to keep the province safe,

and we are accountable.

And then all those kits and everything,

we'll deal with that after...

[Leslie] With the exception of the odd foot powder

that we don't want to have back,

all of the equipment that goes out there

has to come back home again...

...and then it goes into

our maintenance and retrieval section,

where we do the investigation to see what they require

in order for them to be serviceable.

Right now, we're stretched thin,

so we have to be very diligent

in how we are spreading out our limited resources.

We have to prioritize, a lot,

especially when it comes to our critical equipment,

and that's primarily pumps, hose, chainsaws,

things of that nature.

[♪♪♪]

The province of BC is huge,

and like you've seen this year, lots of fires.

[♪♪♪]

[Shannon] Everybody wants to give back

to the people who are in need right now,

but nobody knew how to accept everything

and get it out to the people in need

in that moment...

so Mamas for Mamas just stepped in

to provide that organization, the structure.

It's a very grassroots approach, but it's working really well.

We've processed more than a million and a half donations

in the last four days.

It has been 24/7.

We had too many volunteers

and too many donations to process,

which is a really good problem to have.

At least half of the people that have shown up to volunteer

are evacuees themselves.

Our goal is to make sure that anyone who was evacuated

has the hygiene products, the essentials, the clothing,

the little comforts for their babies.

We've done about 1,200 meals to the firefighters

in the last 72 hours,

and Mamas has not paid for one bit of it.

We heard the place

that was feeding and housing the firefighters

in Lake Country burned down last night,

so UBC got 400 firefighters showing up,

so they've been trying to feed them.

[♪♪♪]

Do we have any kind of prepared meals

we could bring out

to the Lake Country Food Department right now?

Yeah, I think we just got 200 delivered.

Yes!

[phone line ringing]

[Cal] Hello?

Hi, Cal. This is Shannon Christensen calling

with Mamas for Mamas.

I hear you have some hungry firefighters?

Yeah. Yeah, we do. Yeah.

All right. I'm on my way.

I'm on my way right now with 200 prepared meals.

Oh, excellent! To, uh, Lake Country?

You betcha! And I'll be there in probably about 38 minutes.

Excellent.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

I'll text you the address shortly.

Oh, great. And please let me know

if you need water and Gatorade as well.

Sure, okay.

Thank you so much. -Okay, thanks, Cal.

-I really appreciate that. -Of course.

Yeah, you betcha. Bye for now.

Fuckin' rights!

It's not just about putting out fires,

and it's not just about filling gaps in this moment.

It's about finding ways

to remember that we're all human.

We all need compassion

at a time when it's at a premium.

So there's some vegan stuff there...

-Oh, very cool! -...and I don't know

if you guys want coffee and chips and that,

'cause we have it if you do.

I don't want to overload you with stuff that you don't need.

We can take it and put it inside.

[Shannon] Grief is love with nowhere to go.

When you're grieving for your home,

and you're hurting and worried for your kids,

sometimes the best thing you can do

is help somebody else.

-Thank you. -Yeah, oh, my gosh, of course.

[Shannon] It lets you feel like you're not doing it alone.

It reminds you that when you need a hand,

someone will be there for you.

It's, uh, it's really sad to see so many people hurting,

but it's so beautiful to see so many people wanting to help.

They are tired of pizza and hot dogs,

and they were so freaking grateful today.

Exclamation mark.

Good work, guys.

[beeping]

2017, the Elephant Hill Wildfire

came through

and took out the house we had been living in

the last seven years, so...

now, this is, this is tough to see.

This is reliving 2017, for me, completely.

It was hard for my kids especially

to come back to a place that they loved,

had a lot of memories and... but, you know,

that's what we had to work with is the memories, and...

...and that's all you can do is just rebuild

and start those memories over again,

but this is, uh... this makes it real.

[♪♪♪]

When my cabin burned down,

our boat was still attached to the dock.

Keys were inside the cabin,

and I sifted through the ashes,

and I knew that if the house would've burned down,

the keys would've dropped, and in a couple minutes I found,

I was able to find the keys in the ashes,

and cleaned them off,

and they were able to start my boat.

[man] Three-five, bravo-bravo-three. Over.

There's nothing more haunting than a chimney being left.

You know, the homeowners will just stand there

and stare at it, like I did mine.

My heart goes out to these people,

that they have to start over...

but this is why, this is why I do what I do.

[♪♪♪]

[John] I thought every one of those cabins was gone.

I thought they'd lost every one of those houses,

you know, from about here, down.

You know, at least a third of the lake...

but with the structural stuff you guys did,

yeah, I was surprised this morning.

I go for a walk every day,

and this morning, you could see across and see,

and I thought, "Geez, they did a real job."

Pretty impressed.

[chainsaw buzzing]

Fire's died down, for now.

We need to get into places

to make sure that there's nothing else smoldering

that could lead up and creep towards a structure.

[timber snapping]

So that's... our number-one goal

where there is fire involvement close to structures,

but definitely our priority is to continue to protect

the structures that are not burned

that are still at risk...

[chainsawing]

...where they have fuel in front of them,

where the fire could spark up again

with a little bit of wind,

so we're not out of the woods yet.

We have a lot of fuel, a lot of heat up there...

[tree cracking]

...but we have our protection in place,

and we are making sure that it's all working,

and the other crews are also out there

trying to head it off with guards, with bucketing,

so we're trying to cool the head of the fire

that's just ahead, up above us on the hill there.

[helicopter rotors beating]

[Paul] The major firefight was 24 hours,

and after that, we went into what's called mop-up stage,

which is going from fire to fire,

from smoke to smoke,

and completely extinguishing

anything that could possibly come back up.

That went on for 28 days.

[♪♪♪]

[Paul] We calculated that in order to have

actually made significant differences

in the amount of homes saved,

we would have needed 90 apparatus.

We have three.

But you can't go back in hindsight

and go, "Oh, geez, I wish I did this, I did that."

I walk away from it as...

that was the largest fire we had since 2003.

No one died,

and there were very few injuries.

So, yeah, could that have gone better?

Maybe.

Would we have made a huge difference

in any direction?

I don't think so.

[♪♪♪]

Personally, I believe

you can't let something like this just happen

without trying to improve

and trying to benefit in some way,

so we learned a tremendous amount,

how to prepare, how to deal with,

how to come out of these large events.

Hopefully there's additional resources

from the federal government and provincial government

that can assist with that process,

because it does eventually come down to money.

If you don't have the resources to react,

then, well... things are gonna burn.

That's the last photo of my house

that I took that night.

We have basically five ranks of fire activity,

but in the last number of years,

we've added a sixth.

It's basically the Westside Road here

and then Jenny Creek's in there.

I'm no climatologist.

I don't forecast weather or trends,

but I do see the fact that it's warmer and drier,

and the fires are not stoppable...

so how you prepare and how you react

is what's going to make the biggest difference.

That's my little piece of paradise.

[stopping engine]

There's my kitchen.

Sorry, you might get some dark humour out of this.

I've been looking at this for six weeks now,

and it's not getting any better, but...

what are you gonna do?

You gotta laugh about it and just go forward.

We came here in 2013 and went to look at lots.

This was the first lot we saw.

Just absolutely fell in love with the trees,

fell in love with the neighbourhood,

fell in love with the people and the view,

and decided to move here from the coast.

We drew the house. We dug the hole.

We, uh... built the house.

Um, my wife tied the rebar,

um, and it was perfect.

I saw it burn from Westside Road.

It was not possible to drive up the road.

I-I tried to drive up the road.

I only got a couple of hundred metres,

and there was just a wall of fire,

just no way you could've driven through it.

I never thought it was gonna happen to us.

We did not take the things that we would have taken

if we actually seriously considered

that this was gonna be a thing.

We were here for eight years, and it was perfect.

We had no intentions of leaving or rebuilding,

um... and yeah, here it is now.

[truck engine starting]

We're on Hamilton Court.

It's probably the worst concentrated area

of most structures lost.

This one here is the ex-chief from our fire department.

That's her house.

We have 24 members on the fire department.

13 members out of 24

lost their houses on that first night.

The impact on us is huge when we lose a structure,

um, but it's more if it's one of our own, right?

It just... it's just normal, right?

It's just the guy working next to you, fighting fire,

just lost his house,

and he's still here fighting fire, so...

sorry, I'm gonna tear up.

Um...

yeah, that part sucked.

It was brutal. Absolutely brutal.

But, yeah, everybody stayed on the line.

Nobody left.

Nobody, you know, curled up in a ball

and started crying.

Done lots of crying since then, but that first 48 hours,

the whole department did what they were supposed to do.

Yeah. It was incredible.

Next time on Wildfire...

I'm always thinking about fire.

It's an obsession, really.

My main role is to work with communities

to help provide protection from wildfire.

My name's Ryan Pascal.

I've been the Salish Nation unit crew supervisor for 36 years.

Salish unit crew is all First Nations since the start,

and I currently took the role just this past spring.

We're seeing flames 300 feet above treetops.

We were a kilometre away,

you could actually feel the fire indrafting.

We could feel the helicopter being sucked in.

There was stress there,

of, like, okay, now what are we going to do?

If something goes wrong here, where are our options?