lower east Adams fire

home again home again…

~ mymostrecentobsession ~ 2 Comments

On Friday when the trans Canada highway (which goes through Sorrento the town we live just outside) opened, we took a drive outside to see the “scene of the crime”. We saw all of the destruction from the end of Little Shuswap Lake almost to the turn off we usually take to our house. You could see where the fire has crossed the highway from the north, and gone up the hill on the south side for a distance of 7-8 KM of highway, taking all the of the power poles, and any structures in its wake.

This area is largely the Little Shuswap First Nations band. It was interesting in areas of total destruction to find a house standing here and there, bright and perfect, almost out of place, amidst the ruin.

Instructions were not to stop anywhere along the way. All of the turn offs on the road were barricaded or manned with a security car. We stopped at the end of Elson Road with a hope of getting a glimpse of where we live. We talked to the security guard who made it clear that we could not even walk up the road and in fact if we were stopped more than 5 mins we would be ticketed by the CSRD. We could not see our house, as the area, in particular, was very smokey. There were 2 helicopters actively dropping buckets of water in the area. It was hard to really see anything, so I tried unsuccessfully to get a good video of the helicopters filling with water. Tucker was pretty pissed that we did not drive home. We then drove back to Kamloops and got back at about 4 pm. At 5:30 pm the powers that be, changed the designation of Sorrento from evacuation order to Alert, allowing everyone to return home. Since we live about 5 KM west of Sorrento, I phoned them to make certain that it was safe for us to go back (I guess because where we live appeared to be where the remaining fire was), they said for sure we could go back. We opted to wait until the morning, just to make sure.

So I drove ahead to see if it seemed OK for Ken to bring Motorhome. The air was good, it more smelled like smoke, than actually smokey. It appears that some of our larger trees at the top of our property have burned, and will need to be taken down. The weeds coming down the bank have also burned, but house seems to have been missed by the fire. AND MY GARDEN looks GREAT! albeit a bit weedy🤔

our biggest concern about fire has always been the road leading up to our place, and should a fire happen that might block our ability to exit. There was clear evidence that the fire had involved the trees alongside our road.

We had LOTS of company when we first got home. The various neighbours, some of whom I had never met came up. Most of them have stayed throughout the fire. They live 1/2 KM down the hill. We only have one neighbour up where we live. Both of our homes sit on what used to be a gravel pit, lacking any trees or foliage, and both survived. I believe that the fire in its fury has a mind of its own, the strong wind, the heat, the wind direction and the amount of fuel in its path. It is evident that the main fire would have passed our houses hitting just the top of our property. It is the flying embers that would likely have burned our house. We have a metal roof, metal siding and concrete patios around much of our house. The fire department who were the second visitors we had, complimented us on our house being very fire proof. The firefighters who have been working up here are a local fire department and have been working hard up here to prevent this fire from moving on to Sorrento the township. Apparently they heard that we were doctors and so have been awaiting our return because one of them had a medical concern 😀

There was even a photojournalist from Los Angeles who came by to take photos.

We have been lamenting how very hot it is up here with no trees to provide any shade on these very hot summers. We have also been planning on planting many trees. Well this is likely what saved our place. A “fuelless” property.

The COMOX fire department came up and put sprinklers on our neighbours house and refilled the reservoir there. There are fire crews from all over the province in our area.

SOOO This is our secret weapon, our son Dylan made us a few years ago during the fires. It attaches to a fire hose and shoots LOTS of water a LONG distance. He IS willing to make these for other people…..

So as the day went on, and it got hotter, the fires behind warmed up and from about noon until 8pm the helicopters (2 of them) were continually bucketing the area behind us.

it DID get quite smokey into the evening. We did get a bit nervous being alone up here, but the firetrucks came up about 9 pm and told us that everything looked pretty good. So glad it gets cooler at night.

This morning it is very smoky and we have lots of N95 masks. many many many tomatoes to process, I planted 150 plants this year with hopes of selling at the market, but I guess that is out, so tomato sauce, salsa, tomato paste etc etc etc.

We have opted to stay, trusting in the local fire dept telling us that we are safe. The family below us have 5 kids and they too are a “little ” wary.

coming up next…… dealing with the freezer etc

so for now

thanks for reading much love from Janet, Ken and tucker the fire dog

the fire….

~ mymostrecentobsession ~ 2 Comments

I thought I would write about our recent adventures with “the fire”. Friday night I was in Victoria for a “life celebration” for an uncle of mine, and Ken was at home with Tucker. The Lower East Adams fire was across the lake from us and we had offered our house as a place for friends from Lee Creek (across the lake) to stay. One couple had arrived and were just setting up their RV, and our other friends had found a place elsewhere when I got a call in Victoria from our neighbours below us to say that there was a fire up on the mountain behind us and that they were packing to go. This blog will not have pictures from our place, as we have none. So I will put in a picture from before the fire🤔 This is the view that will be changed forever, because everything in this picture has burned. (well except the 2 houses shown as of now)

SOOO… they did get ahold of Ken and so did I, he had the motorhome in place and the jeep behind it, and threw in a few coats, a few beer and a few guitars. THATS ALL. So he headed down the hill and turned on the highway below left towards Kamloops.(where our sons live) Turns out the fire was crossing the highway there and so everyone was being turned around. Ken said that the vehicle at the front of the line was a double tanker truck (?gasoline) Each truck had to drive into a turn on the left and then back out and then head east. Ken was worried because with the jeep behind and the hitch, he cannot back up. Our neighbour was ahead of Ken with a 5th wheel. Ken and I were chatting while he was waiting and I was quite worried knowing that the fire there was VERY aggressive, and I felt very badly not being there….. (in which case we likely would have unhooked the jeep and the turn around would have been much easier, and I would drive the jeep). Decisions at times like this are very important, especially if the fire turns quickly. He did get turned around by doing a U turn, and got the tire in the ditch but in the end got it turned. On the map below …. the black blob is where our house is and the line at the bottom is where the bridge crosses Little River and that is where the fire crossed.

I should explain that this fire actually started over a month ago after a lightening storm. It was on the east side of Adams Lake which is the lake in the top left corner of this picture. As you can imagine it has been its worst when the wind blows from the north west. A few weeks ago the fire aggressively bore down on the cabins along the lake in the top left marked in red. This area can only be accessed by a small car ferry which holds about 10 cars. The fire dept were able to save all of this homes at that time. This is a picture of that area. I have a sister who has a cottage there.

The fire then moved slowly towards Lee Creek, which is a small community between Scotch Creek and the black bridge line I have marked on the map. On Thursday morning this fire was still several kilometres away from Lee Creek, however it was becoming much more aggressive and the smoke was very bad. The fire department had Lee Creek on alert, and they felt very certain that they would be issuing an order soon, so some of my friends left on Thursday. This map below shows where the fire was on Thursday. The yellow is the fire and the blue is where they did a planned large scale ignition to attempt to protect homes in Scotch Creek. This is done, I believe with gasoline and they attempt to burn an area, so that when the fire gets to that spot …. there is no fuel left.

“We are still anticipating that at around 11 p.m., midnightish, winds will start to become pretty erratic and variable and then eventually switch over to come from the north,” said Tower, noting the burn was successful in scorching fuel north of the Scotch Creek area.

“When those winds switch, the fire now tries to come south, but it’s already burned all that fuel.”

This is what the media said on Thursday night. At this time they had not done an evacuation order for the north side of the Shuswap. You cannot see it on this map, but just below where it says Lee Creek, there is a bridge that is the only way out for all of the communities on the North Shuswap. (There is a small logging road that leads from the northern most part of the Shuswap Lake over to Malakwa) a many hours trip that only certain vehicles could take.

SOOOO this is a picture from a place in Scotch Creek on Friday afternoon.

SO while all of this was happening on the other side of the lake on Friday afternoon, Ken and I were thinking of offering our place to people from the other side of the lake on Facebook. GOOD thing we did not do that.

So back to Ken’s story. He was then driving east, the only way he could go, and the friend I was staying with in Victoria called her brother and sister in law in Armstrong who are also friends of ours and arranged for him to go there. THEY were at the Salmon arm roots and blues festival which had just started at this point. They called back a few minutes later to say that the power had gone out there and the festival was ended.

Ken got over to Armstrong and spent 2 night there and then he brought the motorhome to Kamloops yesterday and I drove here yesterday as well. So we are together again. This is the only picture we have of where our house is and it was taken at the beginning of the fire on Friday night. I believe our house would be to the right and below where this fire is. We currently have fire protection up there, and I will write more when I find out more. Our house is still standing but not sure about anything around it

This video is taken by a person driving from Celista to highway 1 while road was still open.

Much love to all, and especially to the friends who have lost their homes in the past few days. I also have a close friend in Ventura that while I was texting about our situation, texted me back to say that they had just had an earthquake. So much tragedy around.

Janet, Ken and Tucker.