Forest fires force 18-year-old from Rock Creek, B.C. home
Forest fires are raging across British Columbia's southern interior. Air and ground crews are struggling to contain the flames and hundreds are being forced to evacuate their homes.
Dylan Winn said he considers his family lucky because all they lost was their house, and not their lives. After witnessing the flames bearing down on his Rock Creek home, it was clear how much worse it could have been.
"It was about four kilometres away but I just had to go check it out before I knew what the situation was going to be," Winn tells As It Happens guest host Matt Galloway.
The 18-year-old remained relatively calm. He dealt with a fire earlier this summer.
"A lightning storm caused a fire just on top of my hill," he explains.
But as Winn drove towards the smoke he knew this fire was different. He reached the gates of the Kettle River Provincial Park and pulled over to take stock of the blaze.
"I watched it take off...really when the fire hit the park that was prime fuel for it...I'm not sure that's where it jumped the river but I watched it...it did jump the river...and then jump the highway and went up both sides of the mountains."
He adds, "it was just...thick flame...the wind changed directions and was blowing towards the fire...bombers in the sky...it felt like a war zone."
At that point Winn knew he needed to leave and he rushed to evacuate his home.
"I knew that I was going to be packing up and leaving because this had a good chance of taking my place."
He reasons that "the amount of space it ate up when I was watching it...it was obvious it was going to be intense."
Winn's grandparents live next door and by the time he returned his grandmother was already trying to take action.
"My Grandpa was in Oliver but my Grandma was aware of the fire," he explains. "When I got back from checking out the fire our power was out...she was deciding what vehicles to get...we didn't have time to pack...so she choose the motor home...something to live in."
As the fire approached, Winn quickly gathered what he could.
"The little time I had, I grabbed the goats and the dogs...had to get the animals first."
He also managed to grab a box of pictures and explains "I was prepared...we were just unpacking from our last evacuation."
Winn is now recovering in Penticton, BC, where he and his family are staying with relatives.
When asked how his little brother is coping, Winn insists, "he seems to be doing pretty well...it's not his first forest fire this year...I don't think it's hit anyone...anyone in the community really until they get to go in and see their places."
But the magnitude of the damage is not lost on Winn. He explains,"our house is totally gone...we had quads in our front yard and they're aluminum puddles and our trailer, our boat, what have you...all that stuff just melted...it was a hot, hot fire."
The loss is particularly difficult for his grandparents who built the house.
"They put their heart and soul into that property."
But for Winn, he will miss the landscape more than anything else.
"The hardest thing is having the whole scenery gone...that's not replaceable...it was pretty beautiful country...and now it's just...from the pictures I've seen it's just charred totem poles."
He adds, "I honestly don't think it's really hit me yet...not until I see it."