Carl and Mira Boucher barely spent two weeks in their new home in Summerland, B.C. before being forced to evacuate last weekend as a fast-moving wildfire spread in the region. The Bald Range Fire was first reported late Friday evening on the western shore of Lake Okanagan and exploded in size, burning about 50 square kilometres in just a few hours. It has also claimed the life of an 80-year-old woman and led to the evacuation of approximately 20,000 homes. Boucher’s three kids were cleaning their clubs at home while preparing for a golf tournament last Friday, but instead the couple told them to pack their essentials in case they needed to leave. Then, at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday, they were woken up by an alert on their phone telling them to evacuate. “There was no more power, no more water. And when we walked outside, it was like that moment, the smoke was so heavy and … the only light you see is the fire in the background,” said Carl, who is originally from Chicoutimi, Que. By Friday evening, they could see smoke rising from behind the mountain as they sat on their back porch, but didn’t expect the fire to lead to the evacuation of their entire town of 12,000 people within hours. “It was really apocalyptic. I mean, we really didn’t think it’s going to happen that quickly,” Mira said in an interview. “If you were outside more than 15 minutes, you’d have a bad headache. You’d get dizzy. It was not pleasant at all.” Before hitting the road, the couple knocked on some neighbours’ doors to see if they had seen the evacuation order since some elderly couples live in the area. On Saturday, Premier David Eby declared a provincewide state of emergency as more than 100 active fires across British Columbia caused “significant” losses of homes and property. As the Bald Range Fire is still very active, the Boucher family is now staying with relatives in Victoria, B.C., watching to see how close the wildfire is to their new home and waiting to hear when they can safely return. “I think what everybody’s starting to realize is that it’s a much bigger story of what happens next because there are potentially hundreds of homes lost, and you don’t always calculate what that means,” Mira said. “That is a lot of families displaced, and that is a lot of homes that need to be rebuilt, and the materials that need to be brought in. So it’s going to be quite a long effort, I think, and a process to recover from this.” Across B.C., 42 evacuation orders are in effect. Wildfire crews are also bracing for more lightning-caused wildfires to start, as the federal Defence Minister David McGuinty said the military is prepared to assist with the British Columbia wildfire response if called. With files from CTV News Vancouver staff
