Fire Season Is Upon Us!

Every year around this time we pack all our valuable papers and belongings into tote boxes and put them in spot where we can access them quickly. These totes sit there until late October, when the weather turns cold and soon the snow will fall. Insurance papers for the cars and the house. A pictorial record of every electrical appliance and how much they cost to replace. We have pet carriers standing ready. A bag filled with new tooth brushes, clean underwear, clothing, shoes. Anything we might need if we are forced to be away from our home for an extended period of time. Anything we might need if our home should be destroyed by a wild fire.

Many people would not understand the degree to which we prepare and until you experience it, you will never know the horror of being evacuated from your home because a wildfire is threatening your community.

In 2003 we got to experience it first hand and had to flee with what we were wearing and our pets. For three days we didn't know if we had a home to return to, or even if we could ever return.

This is a thermal photo taken by a satellite. The red is fire. In the upper right corner of the photo you will see a small community, with a bend of a river as it's border. This is where I live and we were perilously close to being wiped out.

Although we are part of the City of Kamloops, we have our own water system and septic tanks. When the power lines were burned, our water system failed. It was a 20 year old Diesel generator that pumped the water the firefighters used to beat back the fire. If the fire had jumped the highway and caught just one home, all 745 houses would have been lost.

I used to watch the fire planes fly over my house all the time. Now, when I hear them, my eyes search for smoke because, Where there's smoke, there's fire!

The mountains are now beginning to recover, and most of the trees are burned timber, but I still get nervous. There is more that can go up in flames. There's across the river and over 5,000 houses and businesses that could go this year. I sure hope not, but the possibility is there.

Kamloops is home base for the provincial Wildfire Fighting Services. I really hate to hear those planes coming, yet I know they are here to, hopefully, save us again.

But, just in case, our bags are packed and sitting by the back door. I hope I never have to grab them.