As the Bradley Creek wildfire exploded in size Saturday in B.C.’s Okanagan, Avery Brownell and her boyfriend were at her family’s cabin. “The fire started to come down the hill,” said Brownell. “So we were like, OK, we should probably head back to town pretty quick here.” They began driving home to Vernon, as the flames drew closer. “Nobody stopped us, so we just continued to go because we were like, OK, it can’t be that bad,” said Brownell. “As we were driving for a couple minutes, we noticed that the fire had already jumped the road.” As flames surrounded them on both sides of Westside Road, Brownell started recording on her cellphone. “We realized there was no turning around, so we just went through it,” she said. “(It was) probably the most terrifying thing that I’ve ever experienced in my life… it was like driving through an apocalypse.” She credits her boyfriend Tanner with staying calm and driving them through the fire. “He kept his eye on that line in the middle of the road, and he got us out of there safely,” Brownell said. “You can hear me in the video being like, ‘Oh my God Tanner, I’m scared.’ That was when we were going through the flames. You could definitely feel the heat. At one point, I think I said, ‘Oh my God, it’s so hot in here.’ It was insane.” Not only did Brownell and her boyfriend get through the wall of flame unscathed, their old pickup truck did, too. “At one point, I thought that the windows were going to explode because I was like, there’s no way that they can handle this heat,” she said. More than 200 structures, mostly homes and cabins, were destroyed by the Bradley Creek wildfire on Saturday. Brownell is relieved her family’s cabin was spared, but she knows others who weren’t so lucky. “My sister’s boyfriend’s family cabin, as well as a lot of friends’ and family cabins, are unfortunately gone,” she said. “It’s going to be a lot to rebuilt as well as clean up.” ‘Bombs going off’ Jeff Moore, a retired firefighter who watched his lakeside cabin burn to the ground, says the Bradley Creek wildfire is a stark reminder of how quickly conditions can change. He was at his cabin along Westside Road on Saturday when wind conditions helped drive the fire’s explosive growth. “It was a nutshow in there with bombs going off everywhere,” Moore said. “People having a lot of propane vehicles exploding. It was just a crazy time.” After attempting to save his property using fire suppression methods he learned as a long-time wildfire firefighter, Moore was forced into Okanagan Lake as flames closed in. He was picked up by a friend’s boat and taken to safety. Moore’s cabin was among the more than 200 homes and other structures believed to have been destroyed by the wildfire. “Look after your loved ones and yourself,” Moore said. “Life is what it’s all about.”
