Former evacuee from Vancouver Island wildfire still nervous after returning home

An evacuees pours a coffee at the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services as volunteers await to provide food and other services for evacuees while in the parking lot of the Qualicum Civic Centre in Qualicum Beach, B.C., Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

A Vancouver Island artist who was evacuated from her home studio near an out-of-control wildfire says she remains nervous despite being allowed back this week.

Ina-Griet Raatz-von Hirschhausen, whose home is a few kilometres from the Wesley Ridge wildfire near Cameron Lake, said she is waiting a bit longer to bring back half of her art collection, which was taken to a friend’s home when her family was told to evacuate late Sunday.

She left with her husband and two cats, and says she thought her home was lost as soon as the evacuation notice was issued, calling it “the very worst moment of the whole thing.”

BC Wildfire Service fire information officer Madison Dahl told a news conference Friday that the fire’s behaviour overnight was “minimal” and was monitored by night-vision-equipped helicopters.

“Temperatures are forecast to increase through the weekend, and as temperatures rise today and into the weekend, we can expect fire behaviour to increase,” she said.

“That’s going to be producing visible smoke as the fire consumes available fuels from within the fire perimeter.”

The BC Wildfire Service says in its latest update that fire had minimal growth overnight, and firefighting teams, including those from as far away as the Okanagan, are prioritizing containment and the protection of nearby homes.

Recent cool and wet weather across British Columbia has helped push down the number of active fires in the province to just over 100, with more than 160 blazes declared out in the last week.

Hundreds of properties were evacuated due to the fire, and while some have been allowed to return home, nearly 300 addresses remain under order and more than 350 are on alert. 

Dahl said groundcrews on the northern edge of the fire have created “a fuel-free line” in an area where the ground is inaccessible for heavy equipment.

They’ve been using hand equipment, chainsaws, rakes and axes to create the buffer between the fire and unburned areas to slow the spread.

“This is very labour-intensive work, and does take time. They’ve made excellent progress in areas where heavy equipment can’t access,” she said.

Raatz-von Hirschhausen said firefighters have told her there have been no structures lost due to the fire, describing the crews as doing “wonders” in protecting homes even closer to the fire than hers.

Officials have said no homes have been lost, but Dahl said two of three train trestles in the area were destroyed earlier in the fire.

“We are working to prevent any further damage to the third but it is compromised,” she said.

Raatz-von Hirschhausen called the experience of being evacuated “highly emotional.”

She said she was at an arts show when she called her husband at home on Sunday to check on the fire status.

“He said, ‘It’s OK, we’re still on alert,’ and I drove up and, I think this was one of the worst moments, when I saw police officers standing at the corner to our road,” Raatz-von Hirschhausen says. 

“I still assumed everything will be all right,” she said. “And (an officer) asked me for my address and then he said, ‘Yeah, you can go in and just grab your stuff.’ And that was really, really a bad moment.”

They stayed with friends before being allowed back home, and she said she assumed her house was lost to the fire the entire time.

Some of that feeling still lingers, partly because half of her artwork — accumulated over the last 20 years — that could not be moved during the evacuation could still be lost if the fire overtook the house, she says. 

“I need my studio,” Raatz-von Hirschhausen said, adding the days she was evacuated were among the worst she’s experienced.

“I need to make something creative every day; otherwise, I get super nervous,” she said. “And I couldn’t do anything. And yeah, so to me it was really not nice. 

“I still notice it now. And I would assume it might take a little while until all of that gets out of the system.”

This report by Chuck Chiang and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published Aug. 8, 2025.