Sometimes, you feel like you’re in control, like you have a handle on anything the world can throw at you, then boom. The world throws a forest fire at you. “How you going to handle this, smartypants?”
As residents of Tumbler Ridge warily watch a fire burning down the Kinuseo Falls Road and wonder if the fire will force the evacuation of town (spoiler warning: probably not), an auspicious anniversary passed: Sunday, July 4 marked 15 years since the Hourglass Creek Fire forced the town to evacuate.
You can still see the damage wrought by that fire as you drive towards Dawson, 11,000 acres of forest charred, getting to within five kilometres of town before the weather turned at 17 mm of rain fell, ending the threat. Mother nature can be the cause of and solution to, life’s problems.
Tumbler Ridge has three ways into—and out of town, but a second fire, the 3,400 ha Rat Lake Fire had closed Highway 52 South.
With the Hourglass Creek Fire blocking Highway 52 North, and prevailing winds pushing the fire towards Highway 29, threatening to trap residents in town, the decision was made to evacuate the town.
“When you’re dealing with forest fires of these magnitudes, the best plan is always to just get people out of the town,” recalled Dan Golob, then-Tumbler Ridge fire chief.
For three breathless days, the people of Tumbler Ridge watched and waited. Some from Dawson Creek, many from Chetwynd, where the Emergency Social Services had set up services, and some from in town, refusing to leave, promising to fight to protect their homes.
But then the weather broke and the rain fell, and people returned home.
The first hint that things were not normal was when the Canada Day fireworks were cancelled, because the high school field was too dry.
Concern grew, and it wasn’t long before B.C. Forest Service firefighters began camping on the field, watching the situation progress.
“They set that up, and they were just kind of watching the fire,” recalls Matt Triet, who took on the roll of Fire chief after Golob. “The day before the evacuation, the chief and I were driving around, telling people there’s nothing to worry about yet. But many people seemed to be expecting it.”
On Monday July 4, an evacuation alert went out as Highway 52 was cut off by the fire. Then the wind shifted and the order was given to leave town.
Members of the TRFD and the RCMP began going door to door, making sure people understood they would have to leave the town. About 95 per cent of the population did. Some left right away. Others stayed in Tumbler Ridge through the whole ordeal, with some homeowners spraying water on their homes and the roofs of their neighbours’ homes, to slow the fire should it reach town.
But while the smoke was visible billowing up and over the ridge east of town, the flames were never visible.
One of the busiest places during this time was at Fas Gas (now Chevron). Pernell Kirby, who ran the station at the time, says he let the staff leave and manned the pumps by himself. “There were probably 100 people in the store, line ups five or six deep at the pumps, and I ran it by myself,” he said in an interview with the Tumbler Ridge News after the fire. “People were mad and angry at the slow service, screaming and hollering at me, because they all wanted to get out of town in a hurry. It was quite the nightmare.”
After the last customer left the station that night, Kirby remained behind and acted as a caterer to all personnel and elected officials working at the emergency operations centre (EOC) at town hall.
While the fire never reached the town, sparks from the fire blew over the Murray River and started more than 50 spot fires, which were put out by a fleet of helicopters. While the fire never managed to take hold on that side of the Murray, emergency crews felt justified in the evacuation order.
July 5 came and went, with most residents wondering what was happening back home. Fortunately, the flames stayed away from town, and the next morning—July 6—dawned cool, cloudy and wet.
The declaration of local emergency was rescinded at 3 pm that afternoon, and at 4 pm people began returning home.
For people looking for similarities between the two, there are very few. The hourglass fire was 11,000 ha burning 5 km from town. The Tentfire Creek fire is 650 ha (and holding) burning 22 km from town. The Rat Creek fire had blocked off the Highway 52 S. All three roads into town are currently open.
This is not to say not to be prepared. Be prepared. But don’t spend your summer worried about fires (or bears, or mosquitoes) and fail to enjoy one of the most beautiful corners of the world. If we have to evacuate in a few days, or weeks, then we shall do so. But if we don’t, and all you do is worry about whether or not you will need to…well, you’ll have spent your life not actually living.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.