Properties lost as latest B.C. wildfire forces urgent evacuations
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People living in a popular recreational community northwest of Whistler, B.C., said they stood in shock as an aggressive wildfire consumed multiple lakeside cabins after flaring up on Monday.
Owen Rose was standing at the east side of Gun Lake when fire raced down the hillside across the water toward a line of cabins around 6 p.m. PT.
"I'm literally watching the flames come down the hill and start attacking cabins ... it was, number one, sort of astonishing, freaky, incredibly scary all at once," said Rose, whose father owns a cabin on the west side of the lake.
"As we're watching one cabin, then another cabin and the wind pushing the flames towards the cabins."
Rose said he saw at least five cabins burning.
"A lot of those cabins were built in the '40s and '50s. So you've got a lot of sentimentality, a lot of family history there, and it's just devastating ... It's a total nightmare scenario."
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District said there have been fewer than "five confirmed structure losses" as of Tuesday.
The district said the term "lost" could mean destroyed or partially damaged, but officials have not been able to get into the area to confirm.
"We have not been able to assess all the areas because the hazard conditions are not allowing our staff to go in," district chair Jen Ford said in an interview.
"It is our understanding that most of the properties up there are recreation cabins, but we do know that a number of residents live there year-round."
Flames from the lightning-caused Downton Lake wildfire had made slow but steady progress through steep, wooded terrain at the western end of Gun Lake since the blaze was sparked on July 13 but suddenly flared late Monday.
The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District says all properties in the Gun Lake and Lajoie Lake areas are on evacuation order due to the Downton Creek fire, with more properties in the surrounding area on evacuation alert. (Squamish-Lillooet Regional District)
"It was moving very actively, very aggressively up and over the ridge. We had eyes on the ground that saw it on the west side of the lake. Rather quickly, it grew, and the smoke was overwhelming," said Ford.
An evacuation order covering the more than 200 properties around the lake was issued Tuesday and quickly upgraded to critical, urging the many seasonal and handful of permanent residents to leave for Lillooet or Whistler.
Evacuation alerts were also extended to areas north of Gun Lake, including Tyaughton Lake and the Tyax Resort, as the nearly 16-square-kilometre fire almost quadrupled in size since Monday.
"It's incredibly important that everybody heeds the call to evacuate the area and, most importantly, don't go into the area — we've got to keep the roads clear, we've got to get people out of there," said Ford.
The fire is on the northern edge of Downton Lake but also extends east toward nearby Gun Lake. The lakes sit side-by-side roughly 110 kilometres northwest of Whistler.
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The B.C. Wildfire Service said the fire was driven by the wind.
"This is definitely an evolving situation, very dynamic," said fire information officer Ayden Corey.
"We are expecting the next two days, in particular, to show you know continued warming and drying trends, no real reprieve in terms of precipitation or slowing winds."
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Ford said she has heard buildings might have been lost, but no one has officially reported that damage to the district.
"We don't have any official reports of any structural damage or structural loss. However, there is certainly lots of information out there in different channels suggesting there is property damage," she said.
The properties around Gun Lake are mostly recreational cabins, but there are residents who live there year-round.
John Rose, 81, said he intends to stay as long as possible to keep the sprinklers running on the roof of his log house and on the heritage log cabins on the neighbouring property built by his parents in the 1940s.
"This isn't heroic,'' said Rose, a retired B.C. Parks Service ranger, whose property is across the lake from the flames.
"I just don't think anyone else could handle this setup.''
More residents return home in Osoyoos fire
The destruction and evacuation orders and alerts came as most residents of the southern Okanagan town of Osoyoos were returning to their homes after a wildfire raced north from Washington state on Saturday, burning to within a few metres of some properties before a wind shift spared the community.
The Gun Lake and Osoyoos wildfires are among more than 360 active wildfires across B.C., including 16 the B.C. Wildfire Service says were sparked within the last day.
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The flare-up of the Downton Lake blaze happened just as the young Ontario firefighter who died last week in northeastern B.C. was identified as Zak Muise.
An online obituary posted by the firefighting contractor who employed Muise, 25, called him a "vital member'' of the crew.
RCMP have said he was killed when his heavy-duty ATV rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road in a remote area about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John.
A funeral is scheduled for later this month in Simcoe, Ont., and the obituary also said a public memorial was being planned in B.C.
Muise was the fourth Canadian wildland firefighter to die this year and the second to die in B.C.
Devyn Gale, 19, died last month while working on a wildfire near her hometown of Revelstoke, B.C., after she was hit by a falling tree.
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Thumbnail image courtesy of Owen Rose via CBC News.
This article was originally published for CBC News. With files from Yasmine Ghania and The Canadian Press
