Over on Facebook, I asked for your stories from the evacuation. Here’s what you said.
While still evacuated, Christie Burlingame wrote of her experience being evacuated and living in a motel with people from our community of Tumber Ridge.
We’ve had LATE nights of story telling, belly aching laughs, teasing and all around a good time in light of it all.
Having this opportunity to get to spend time and get to know these people and their children in an unexpected way will be a memory I will cherish as a part of my Tumbler Ridge adventures. Bonding with people I may never have crossed paths with in our small community makes me appreciate this time none of us ever would have imagined.
Carmen and her daughter Carly have been running this place [the Pine Inn] on their own since January of this year. The staff here have been running around the clock to help us out. They’ve opened the laundry room for us, made the adjustments people have requested and have kept our tummies full, a roof over our heads and a bed to sleep in.
Today I volunteered to clean rooms and do laundry in the motel. My Mom was gracious enough to helped me fold laundry and keep me company.
“Those who know me well know I like to keep busy and one of my love languages is acts of service.
It’s hard to express what this rollercoaster has been like. Thank you all that have reached out privately and the warm, kind thoughts you’ve sent. I truly appreciate you all.
She says that the Tumbler Ridge community collected money, and she donated soap, bath bombs and wine glasses, while Amanda and Sean that run Northern Metalic donated wine to Carmen, who runs the Pine Inn. “We also had a poster that a lot of people signed.”
Patricia Grouette has a few tips for next time:
We remembered to take out the garbage before we left, but forgot to check all toilets were flushed. If it’s yellow it doesn’t mellow after seven days. Just saying…
Had stew meat and onions ready to go for supper on the Evac Day, before going out the door, fast & furious chopping of veggies, thrown into the Instantpot and plugged in outside the Evac Center upon arrival—supper enough to share.
Had a ‘Grab & Go’ bag ready on Emergency Prep Self in basement…packed it two years ago but I have expanded so clothes were too small…Note to Self: re-pack bag every 6 months or so…
For us this was a very positive experience and one to learn from.
Alex Haynes was on his way to Dawson Creek for a vision appointment the morning of the fire, when his car broke down about 20 km outside of Tumbler Ridge (some of you may have seen a gray Xterra on a side road).
This is when the realization of what was going on began to hit me. My first call was to cancel my appointment; my second call was to BCAA, which is when I found I forgot my wallet at home. BCAA estimated 4 to 5 hrs to come to tow my vehicle back to TR. So I called the mechanics in TR and they told me they couldn’t bring my vehicle in because they were closing shops because of the fire. No alert yet so this was news to me.
My next call was to a friend I met at a new job, Ben. I told him my vehicle had broken down on the highway and said, almost jokingly, that he may want to get a bag packed in case something happens. Minutes later the Evacuation Alert comes through on our cell phones. I can’t remember if I called BCAA or they called me as there were many other texts and calls going out and coming in, but they had to cancel picking up my vehicle because they would not come into an evacuation zone. So much for emergency road side assistance, but that is another thing entirely.
Ben called me back and asked of my plans; I had none yet. At this point my friend told me he was coming to pick me up, get me home to pack, and then get us all out of town. I didn’t even have time to ask him for help, he made up his mind and hit the road. Within 20 to 30 mins he and his partner Jen were there in their truck and scooped me up. On our way to my house, we found out the road from TR to Dawson was closed and that we needed to go through Chetwynd to get me to a hotel and them to their home in DC.
In the meantime, I called my Mom in Calgary and asked if she could find me a room in DC (neither of us were familiar with evacuation procedures). She and my cousin got on to their computers and after several calls and before reservations were closed by Emergency Support Services, they reserved a room in DC for me. (As an aside, I had to pay for the hotel room for that night. After that, ESS covered the cost of the room.)
So, I could have broken down out of cell phone range, I could have ended up in DC without my wallet or a packed bag, possibly unable to get back to TR to pick anything up. I could have been waiting on the side of the road for BCAA to come when the road was closed. Who really knows all the other if’s… All I know is I’m grateful to Ben and Jen for rescuing me (saving other rescue resources the town needed), and for all the help I/we all received in DC, which could be a whole other series of stories.”
Stacie Gruntman says her experience in Fort St. John was amazing.
The ESS was well organized and the people there were so empathetic and helpful. Our hotel (Microtel) was superb! Over the top kindness, and helped guide us through the ESS process after we arrived there before checking in.
We got super lucky and were the first people to arrive at the Pomeroy Centre so I was able to tell other people to make their way to it, as there was no line at all.
Kim Parker says she had decided to walk to work that day.
I get a call from the school to go pick up my daughter with no explanation. It was a mayhem in there, out of control chaos. Kids crying, teachers yelling. We parents should have been informed as to why we are picking up our kids. Had to find a ride as she needed to be gone immediately. Borrowed my boss’s vehicle. Never received any sort of alert, straight to an order to evacuate immediately.
“Ashes were in my truck as I was trying to pack, but instead, I walked around aimlessly decided what to pack. The truck was running out of insurance the next day, so I couldn’t take it. I wanted to take the diesel with me and tow the trailer. Instead towed the boat.
“I left the garbage in the house which stunk up entire house, note to self: take out garbage before evacuating and empty out mop bucket.
“In Chetwynd a lady came up gave me and a friend a hug saying r u guys from Tumbler? We said yeah, so she hands us $50 and tells us to buy something nice for our families. Such sweet generosity everywhere we went to in Chetwynd.”
Darra Hofman sent this picture of youngest Jojo, enjoying a snow cone at the Chainsaw Carving Competition. “The vendor refused to take my money after hearing we were from Tumbler,” says Darra. 
Before the evacuation, smoke rising over town. Keshia Shaylee photo 
Chris Dell sent us this photo of the road closure. 
While 4 km seems a long way away, Geri Buhler sent us this photo of a charred leaf that was thrown up by the fire and landed in her yard. 
Evacuating. Selena Stacy Photo 
Crys White photo of her relocated animals.
Crys White says she was just getting onto the massage table at the clinic when Yvonne came in and said “we are being evacuated!”
We were almost ready to leave (went through this in ’06 so we’re expecting it when we saw the huge cloud over bald spot)so packed the stuff from the fridge and the photos plus my books of Beethoven Sonatas.
Picked up the equines and took off for Dawson in record time. Packed all their grooming equipment but forgot my own hairbrush!
Uneventful evacuation and safe return.
Linda Matthews says she took out a roast to cook. She was planning on bringing it along, but left it in the garage. Whoops.
Karen Curry, says that when the evacuation notice came through, her husband (and fire chief) Dustin was on his way back from Penticton from a fire chief conference.
I came home and packed the family and then headed to Dawson where it was a convoy of vehicles all heading out of town!
Once in Dawson, it was then trying to comprehend what just took place and register and find a place to park so the kids could then head to bed as it was getting later and later in the evening!
I am not sure how it happened but our number in the ESS line was 158, next thing I knew I was being brought in and sat down and explained that they have a campsite for my family, and gave us food vouchers.
It wasn’t until the next few days I went to go and buy groceries (only to run into some miscommunication along the way) and then walked around the store and picked up what we needed to get along for the next few days and a man at the till behind me heard that I was from Tumbler Ridge and he himself grew up here and said Tumbler Ridge holds a special place in his heart and offered to pay for my groceries!!! This man would not give up his name, only then in the parking lot after comprehending that someone just paid for my groceries did he release his name to my mom who gave him a great big hug!!
Working for the District in the capacity as the Executive Assistant, has lead me to meet some amazing people along the way, one of those people is Darcy Dober, the Mayor for the City of Dawson Creek, who saw me at the ESS centre and we exchanged phone numbers and he reached out to me, making sure I had a place to stay and even took time out of his busy day to invite me for a tour around city hall and take our minds off of all the craziness that had taken place over the last few days.
Everywhere I went in Dawson, the residents there opened up their hearts and assisted so many of us residents…words cannot describe how thankful we are of them! From attending BBQ’s to events around town… Dawson Creek sure had things for us to do and kept us fed and busy!!!
After 14 straight days of my children not being able to see their dad, it was stressful at times and kept reassuring the kids that dad and all the people who stayed behind were doing everything they were trained to do to keep our town safe.
Over on the Tumbler RidgeLines Facebook page, I posted images taken by Sarah MH of a ball game being held in Dawson Creek. What I failed to do was mention that the ball game didn’t just self organize, but Matthew Thiessen put it together, with the help of TJ Meise from Ironwolf Athletics providing the gear (see photo). Joe’s Pizza provided the snacks and McDonald’s provided drinks.
Finally, Chris Naumann had this to say on Facebook in response to the way the evacuation was handled, and how ‘they’ should have handled this better:
There is no ‘They’ assigned to cover our short-sightedness and unpreparedness. It is many individuals doing their best, giving their time and energy in an almost impossible situation. The fire exploded from 0 to 10,000 hectares in two days. Were you prepared? Is that someone else’s fault?
Gratitude is what is appropriate in this case.
Thank you firefighters. Thank you to the many volunteers who were there for us & to the officials who made order out of chaos. And to those who kept us informed. And fed our abandoned pets & plants, maintained equipment, watched for looters…the list goes on.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
