All language subtitles for Wildfire.2025.S01E04.1080p.WEB.h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

[♪♪♪]

[Paul] The fire started

in the backcountry
west of Kelowna.

It was a wildfire of interest
to BC Wildfire Service.

Combined with
the weather forecast,

we were starting to get
a little bit concerned,

because it was
growing very quickly.

Basically, it was doubling
in size every hour.

When it started
looking like a volcano

up behind Bear Creek Park,

it really indicated

that we were gonna be dealing
with a major situation.

It was blowing up
like a volcano.

It looked like a towering column
of smoke and fire.

Traders Cove
is the first community

east of where the fire was,

so we started
staging and preparing

for the possibility

of it actually dropping down
into Traders Cove.

Due to the cold front
that came in,

that process
happened very quickly,

so as the wind picked up,

the ferocity of the fire
and the energy of the fire

became much bigger
and quicker.

If there is no wind
and the fire burns,

it doesn't go very fast.

In a case like this,

where we had 30- to 50-
kilometre-an-hour winds,

as the fire gets driven

and travels through
the low-level fuels,

the trees start candling...

and when the trees candle,

those explosions of fire

throw large embers
of burning chunks of wood

into the travelling wind
above them.

That's what basically
started the fire

on the east side of the lake.

Our embers travelled
through the upper-level winds

and started igniting
the east side of the lake...

so we were just fighting fire
along the whole west side,

and then eventually over into
Lake Country and Kelowna.

[♪♪♪]

[Al] This fire started

on the south aspect
of Penrose Mountain,

lightning strike
way up high on the mountain.

We had the helitack crews
in here working it

for the first week and a half.

It's mountain goat territory.

It's just impossible
to get there,

and so they felt
they had to back off, and...

she's a-goin' now.

Today's the first
real blowout on the fire,

so I think there's
a little bit of twitchiness,

and people are
looking up the hill

and wondering what's going on.

There's 275 structures
on this lake,

so I don't think there can ever
be enough resources for this.

It looks like
an atomic bomb just went off.

[Adam] So, we do
structural protection.

Right now we're going around
and making sure

there's a bubble of humidity
around each property,

so what we're doing

is kind of
a prep-and-go situation.

We prepare the houses,
get them ready,

and then, time comes,

we turn everything on
and get out.

This is a heritage cabin here,
a parent's,

so this is really important
to them,

so they wanted to make sure
that it was protected.

[Adam] There's definitely
some challenges out here

in terms of some older houses,
some heritage homes

that really need
to be protected,

and just the fuel load
around them.

The vegetation is so thick
and so dense,

with a lot of deadfall
down on the ground,

so if fire was to come in here,
it's gonna be pretty intense.

We got two sprinklers
on each peak of that house,

and it's 100% gravity-fed,
so... yeah.

[Adam] But yeah, old homes
always cause a challenge for us.

The big thing
for our sprinklers,

if we create a big humidity dome
around the structure...

How are you guys doing
on that last sprinkler?

We're almost ready
to fire on this end.

[Adam] ...and just up
that RH level,

those embers,
when they do try to penetrate,

will just get snuffed out.

[starting pump]

Let's get those Mark-3s started

and pump some water
out of the lake.

Okay. Let's see it.
Let's see if my vision worked.

[water spraying]

We've got a good moisture
bubble around the house.

It's coming kinda
10, 15 feet out from the home,

so, pretty awesome to see
when it works.

It's good
that these guys are here,

and they have
a really good setup

and a really good group
of guys and people.

This is stuff that happens.

It's unfortunate,
it's sickening to a point,

but, yeah, just keep
our fingers crossed,

and whatever happens, happens.

It's nature,

and we can only do
the best we can.

[Lee-Anne] Southeast
Fire Centre, X-ray Alpha India.

Just leaving 2350

and headed to 2170.

This fire started
about three weeks ago.

It looks like most of the growth
has stayed to the north...

and then it's actually
crossed the main drainage there

and started another fire on
the other side of the drainage,

but all of that
is in upper elevation,

so for now, it's just gonna
remain monitor only.

Basically, when these fires
start in these remote areas,

what we try and do

is let them burn
as they naturally would.

Initially, like, the impact
is quite great on wildlife

because obviously
they can't be in here

while it's burning,

but post-wildfire,

there's a huge rush
of nutrients to the ground,

and you see green shoots
and tons of berries,

and it kind of
regenerates an area

that's been not growing
as well as it should,

and that's kind of
that, like, natural process

that we're trying
to let happen more now,

because we've learned
over the years

that we're doing it wrong

when we're putting them out
all the time,

and we've reached a point, too,

where we just can't
put them out anymore.

Uh-oh, there's a new fire.

That's not good.

We're going to have to think

about doing something
up here, I think.

Yeah.

This might be a rappel fire...

lucky guys.

Let's get a pin first.

How big is it?

I'll call it a point two.

Okay, let's look
for access here real quick.

I don't know
if there's anything.

Geographic location
is Abrahamson Creek.

Coordinates are 50 32.396
by 117 24.184,

at an elevation of 4000 feet.

Yeah, recommend a rappel target
just to create access,

and if they require
extra personnel,

they can cut a spot
a little bit closer.

Probability of success
at this time would be high.

And Kootenay Lake Fire Zone,
it's X-ray Alpha India.

Hey, Art, so, yeah,
the fire's not going anywhere.

It's kind of just
skunking around

in the timber line
adjacent to the cut block.

I recommended rappel
just because

the hike is looking like

it's greater than
a kilometre to get to it,

but it might require
more personnel,

so maybe they could
cut an access for them,

and then we could put two crews
on it maybe tomorrow.

Okay, sounds good.

[♪♪♪]

[Leslie] A rapattack crew

is a three-
to four-person crew.

Come into your descent device.

[Leslie]
We act as initial attack...

Exiting motion now.

...and we rappel
to remote-access fires,

and deal with the fire,

or if the fire's too big,

it's usually a helipad
that we'll build

so we can get in a unit crew
or additional resources.

We also have the capabilities
and training to do medevac,

and that is
our medical extraction,

so we would use
the evac harness,

and that's a quick way
to get someone off of the hill,

and then, for something
more traumatic,

we have a sked kit.

For a rap crew
to be operational,

we need a certified faller
and a level-3 first aid.

All right, clear for door
below six deep.

Okay, check live intercom.
How do you read?

I get five squared.

Five squared as well.

[Leslie] We also have
what we call "HOTs".

That means Helicopter
Operation Technicians,

and they're trained
to deploy us.

We all know
the HOTs pretty well.

They were once rappellers.

Okay, door's open.
Reset master caution, please.

Master caution reset.

[Leslie]
We'll fly over the fire.

We'll do our recce flights

and talk about where
our escape routes would be,

viable water, if it's around,

and basically, what's our plan
once we hit the ground,

and then,
when we're ready to deploy,

our HOT will signal
to the first rappeller,

so that would be me,

as the crew leader,
you're the first person,

and I'll go out into suspension.

And you're clear
straight left.

I discovered I had
a fear of heights, um,

during my recruit training.

It took three years before
that fear stopped bugging me,

and now, it's just, like,
"Yep, I'm up here.

Yep, I'll go down."

[♪♪♪]

Once I'm on the ground,
I'm looking for danger trees.

I'm making sure
our area is clear,

and then I can communicate

if need be, like, no, abort,
or whatever I need to do

if it's unsuitable for
the next members to come down.

Once the rappellers
are on the ground,

then our gear bags
will get deployed.

We have two gear bags.

One is our clean
and one is our dirty.

Our clean will have
our camping stuff,

as well as our bladder, hose,
and our food,

then our dirty bag
has our chainsaws,

our fuel, our stove for camping,

our hand tools,
and our helipad kits,

so then we're self-sufficient
for over 24 hours.

[♪♪♪]

So we'll camp
until that fire's out,

or until our objective
is complete.

And then be picked up

and then flown
to a new target.

[Al] Gun Lake Fire Brigade
was started

because we are two hours

from the nearest forestry base,
which is Lillooet.

We've scrimped, scrounged,
and saved every little penny

to, uh, try to build
what we have now.

Most of my members
are seniors,

100% volunteer.

Got a lot of heart,

but maybe not as many miles
in us as we should have,

but our biggest challenge
is, of course,

is always gonna be topography.

We're in the mountains.

Every day, Gun Lake
will have a southwest wind,

uh, usually around 2:00
in the afternoon,

and if we have a fire going,

that's gonna give that fire
a lot of energy.

It was a standard afternoon.

The wind was coming up,

and one of the members
says, like,

"Oh... it's in the valley now."

At that point,
I was talking to Forestry,

saying, "Hey, I think
it's about time

that we start
thinking about evacuation.

It's crossed
all your trip lines."

We actually went into
an evacuation order,

and, uh, that was
Gun Lake Fire's responsibility

to, uh, get that order out.

We're here to help youse guys
and work together.

The only thing we don't want

is panic
when the evac will start.

Just like
our area of responsibility,

it is the private properties
around Gun Lake and Lajoie Lake.

That includes Hess Road.

So those,
that is what the order covers,

all those properties
in that area,

so... all right.

[sprinklers running]

We're just gonna grab this,
and we're out of here, so...

Awesome.
That's great news, guys.

I see some gas here.

Is that gas
for the wajax?

Uh, that's dirty old gas.

Okay. If you wouldn't mind...

Actually, I'll-I'll...

If you wouldn't mind just
putting it somewhere else?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

And just leave your pump
set up down there,

and somebody will be by
to run it.

-Okay, that's awesome.
-I'll paste this.

Paste it on the door.
That's good.

And you guys
are on your way out, right?

Yeah. Yeah,
on our way out, yeah.

We left the pump running.

Could we leave your gate open?

-The sprinklers on.
-Oh, right.

Yeah, that's...
they've asked

if you could leave
the gate open

so the structural
protection folks...

There's no lock on the gate.

Oh, perfect.

Yeah.

Well, the blue means
that nobody was home,

and the pink means

that they've been notified
of the evacuation order.

We've left a sticker
on their door.

On to the next one.

[knocking on door]

A couple days ago,
it really wasn't that bad.

Man, two days ago,
when we got here,

it wasn't that bad.

It's a real thing now.

Currently, Dave is planning

on, uh, sticking around
for a little while

to see how things play out.

Um...

Yeah, I think so. I think so.

We've got a pretty good
fire hose.

Got a lot of pressure.

I think there's two of us here,

we can stop it
from coming on the property,

we have a chance
to save the cabin.

We've gotta make the effort.

It's been in the family
many years,

and a lot of effort went
into building this place.

We're not about
to just fold over and let it...

and let it go,

so we're gonna stay and fight
as long as we can.

So there's gonna be
two people staying?

[Dave]
Yes. Yup, two people staying.

No minors under the age of 17?

[Dave] No.

No seniors
that may require assistance?

-No.
-How many vehicles will be here?

-Two. Two vehicles.
-Two vehicles.

[Dave] Yeah.

And I told you about the horn?

So, we, there is a siren
on the top of the Fire Hall.

If you hear
the three-minute blast

on that, on the siren,

that really is the cue to...

-To get out.
-...to get out.

-Sure.
-Okay?

[Dave] No, that makes sense.

Good luck to you, pal.

Yeah, yeah, you guys,

thank you so much
for everything you're doing.

Thanks, Dave.

The community's
really come together.

That's amazing. That's good.

Hopefully it stays together.

[Al] The whole evacuation
worked well.

It was two hours.

We have 275 properties notified,

and we're wrapping it up,
and telling the SLRD

that people
were on the move and that,

and, uh, that's when
the first fire incident,

when she came down to the lake
the first time,

you know, that was
a... pretty drastic moment.

[siren wailing]

[fire truck honking]

We'd better go.

Okay, kids, we gotta go.
Shoes on, now!

[child] My stuffies
and my blanket!

[engine starting]

It was pretty small, didn't
really think anything of it,

uh, and now it's...
definitely... not that way.

Well, I guess
it was two days ago, now,

when it was, like, 32 hectares
on the other side there,

and it was like,
"Oh, it's fine, we'll get it."

And then 64...

and then it was like 300,

and then it was
500, 600, 1,100,

and now, what, it's like
6,800 hectares or something?

and just... it's crazy.

Just crazy.

Like, we heard early on

that there's potential
for looting,

but they were pretty thorough
going through the community,

and rightfully so.

Like, there's no reason
to be up there

for anybody right now.

Those winds change,
and honestly,

it jumped
Okanagan Lake yesterday.

We're closer than that
right now.

There's a white house
at the very top up there,

and you can just go
about straight down from that,

and my house is in that area.

[chuckling]

Yeah, that house burning is...

that's probably
on my old street.

There's a lot of anxiety
in people,

and, uh, we're trying to cope
with it the best we can,

and, uh... the pets
figure we're nervous,

they're nervous,
so, yeah, it's anxious times.

Last night, we were
in the car with my three dogs,

and again, we have to sleep
in the car today

because we called
a couple hotels, you know?

They said, "Oh, we're gonna
charge $500 per night

with three dogs
and three adults,"

and I said, "No,
that's too much money for me."

I mean, we've gotta get
something done about this.

It's crazy.

I mean, we're waiting for
the whole place to burn down,

and it's just...

it's bad when they can grow,

so, you know,
into such big fires.

[helicopter overhead]

My role on the fire

is to coordinate
the helicopters.

We work
with the operations staff

and the ground crews

to ensure that we know
the operational plan

on the ground,

and then the helicopters

are brought in
to support those tactics.

We've got
three Bell 214 helicopters

with buckets on.

They're working
on the north flank.

Those are heavy-lift aircraft.

They're really good
at climbing,

and that's
the steeper side of the fire.

And then on the south flank
of the fire,

we have
two tanked helicopters,

medium-lift Bell 205
and 212.

Those are working
in more closely with the crews

and over the structures.

You're balancing
the potential for fire growth

with the potential
for protecting values.

We always focus
on life and property,

and move down the line
from there.

This fire's situated
in a really unique place.

It experiences
some pretty interesting winds

over the south end of the lake,

and they tend to downslope
in here,

so from the helicopter
operations perspective,

we're unable to work
underneath that,

so we just continue to maintain

the base of the fire
and the anchor,

and look for opportunities
to get in underneath it.

[Al] We've gotten
the evacuation done.

The fire took quite a jump,

and we got a call on the radio

that there was
a structure involved.

We hadn't even made it around
the south end of the lake yet,

and the structural protection
specialist was coming back,

and he just said,
"No, pulling out.

Everybody outta here.

It's way too involved now."

Gun Lake Fire
from Marine Two.

[Carmen] It was very scary.

We were just finishing up

getting
the notifications done

when the call came in

that the fire
was down at the road.

From that moment forward,
it just became surreal.

Everything was happening
very quickly,

and the fire
was moving too fast

for any actions to be taken,

and the crews had to be
pulled back for safety.

[Al] We came back to the hall,

and Kevin Woronchak,

the structural protection
specialist,

is like, "Al...

if there's any time
you needed that siren,

it's right now."

[siren wailing]

We were watching it
for a long time,

and the crews were handling it,

they had a small jump
across the road,

and then all of a sudden,
it just...

there was just so much energy,

and it just, and it blew up,

and all of a sudden,
it went right across,

and just so much energy
went over towards the north.

I just would have never
predicted this at all.

It was ten minutes,

and then, you know, crews
did the best they could.

[♪♪♪]

The spotting
in this fuel type,

like, it's crazy
when the winds are big,

it just takes, like, one ember
to create a new spot,

and that creates, like,

a compounding effect
of fire behaviour,

and it just, like,
keeps running.

Um, yeah, it probably took,
like, a 19-kilometre run today,

just doing, like,

a back-of-the-envelope
calculation,

which is...

it is what it is.

[♪♪♪]

It might pop over that ridge
quite nicely.

Being on
a lot of interface fires,

this is probably
one of the larger ones of scale,

but we're pretty comfy
working alongside, like,

our local fire department,
municipalities,

and assisting them
with structural protection.

We tactically evac'ed
the neighbourhood,

and we've just been
kind of triaging houses

and neighbourhoods,

and so kind of doing
the "bump and run" tactic

of once the fire backs down,

we extinguish the flame front,

and then we bump
to the next neighbourhood,

and rinse and repeat.

My shift started
at 7:30 this morning.

We were on a different incident
to begin with,

so the time is...

2:00 in the morning.

I can't do the math right now,

but I think
that's 20ish hours, maybe.

[helicopter whirring]

[Paul] As it came up
across the mountain,

I heard this sound

that I'd never heard
before or since.

It was a howling.

It wasn't, at the time,
it wasn't anywhere near me,

it was way up on the mountain,

and it was just making
a howling sound.

It was kind of unearthly.

It was freaky.

This is the firefight
at the top of West Kelowna Road.

It's about 2:00 a.m.,

and these firefighters
are engaged in, uh...

digging in deep,

uh, trying to save these homes

under some
incredible conditions.

[Paul] Because we had
such a long, hot, dry spell,

basically, everything
down here was dry,

so grasses
get consumed very quickly.

The fire travels very fast
along the ground.

As it climbs into
the canopies of the trees,

which are also completely dry,

the dead needles
very quickly catch on fire,

and then the canopy
tends to explode.

A travelling canopy fire
at that ferocity

is, um... it's like a beast.

It's this freight train
running down the mountain,

burning, you know,
100 to 150 feet high.

If the trees are 80 feet high,

it's burning twice as high
as the trees are,

and it consumes
everything in its way

that's at all flammable.

This is Westside Road,

just at the edge of
the fire protection area,

looking back
towards the community.

We deem this to be a no-go.

We're pulling back from here.

Power lines, fire burn
on both sides of the road.

[Paul] If you're in there,
it's all around you,

it makes its own wind,
makes its own weather.

As fuel is being consumed,
the heat rises,

and then cold air
rushes in to replace it,

so, although wind direction
can be prevalent

for a particular event,

it may not be behaving
the same way inside the fire.

[♪♪♪]

So, our conditions
on Bear Creek Road.

I penetrated in as far as I can.

As it was chasing us,

we sometimes
drove through the fire,

and we were literally
dodging power poles

coming down on the road,

and that was within
the first three, four hours.

That original lane access

that you were working on
with the power lines,

safe to access... bush truck,

or do we have to go in
from another way?

[Paul] We had two injuries,
both on the first night.

One was a wrist-bone break
from one of the firefighters

that was in a position

where he had to chop through
a power line with an axe,

and the other one was second-
degree burns to their face.

Both members
came back immediately

after being released
from the hospital.

[sirens wailing]

That's when... it came down
on the yacht club

which was right there.

The yacht club was...

The one that, I think,
the first homes that burned.

Yeah, that was
over a hundred years...

I didn't realize
that was part of this.

Yeah, over a hundred
years old. Yeah.

[Al] I had a couple of members

that their whole program,
in the event of an evacuation,

was they were gonna stay,

and if it got really bad,

they were gonna go out
in the middle of the lake

and sit in their boat
and wait it out.

Well, the second time

that the fire came down
to the lake,

and we had the fire tornado
and all the rest of that,

massive fire activity...

they changed their story
a little bit

about sitting in the boat
on the lake,

'cause it wouldn't
have been survivable.

We had the initial blow

that blew the fire up
to the north end,

then the threat was
the wind was gonna shift

and come from the north,

and start working down
that whole side.

Stafford Road is sort of
the beginning

of where the fire came down
to visit us the second time.

This is really where, uh...

where the real...
disaster begins.

Couldn't see anything
that was going on.

I mean, we're just,
literally, it's smoke.

There's tons of firebrand
flying around.

We're not really conscious,
we know the wind's up,

and we know that we're in
an area that's, like,

"This isn't feeling comfortable.
Just keep going." You know?

"Don't stop.
Don't try to turn around.

Just... get
to the other end of this."

That's the tree
that got snapped off.

You see the top of it snaps,
disappears into the tornado,

and then gets shot out the top,
into the lake.

Look at that. It's crazy.

When we showed that video
to the Forest Service,

they were like, "Holy."
Like, "Wow."

Like, "We gotta get this
to fire-behaviour guys."

The intensities here

were just
absolutely incredible.

[Leslie] We have
two equipment depot locations.

We're in the south,

and we have one in the north.

Our primary focus

is to service
the field operations.

That's why we exist.

We purchase equipment.

We manage the equipment.

All of this equipment
belongs to the general public.

It's to keep the province safe,

and we are accountable.

And then all those kits
and everything,

we'll deal with that after...

[Leslie] With the exception
of the odd foot powder

that we don't want to have back,

all of the equipment
that goes out there

has to come back home again...

...and then it goes into

our maintenance
and retrieval section,

where we do the investigation
to see what they require

in order for them
to be serviceable.

Right now, we're stretched thin,

so we have to be very diligent

in how we are spreading out
our limited resources.

We have to prioritize, a lot,

especially when it comes
to our critical equipment,

and that's primarily
pumps, hose, chainsaws,

things of that nature.

[♪♪♪]

The province of BC is huge,

and like you've seen this year,
lots of fires.

[♪♪♪]

[Shannon]
Everybody wants to give back

to the people
who are in need right now,

but nobody knew
how to accept everything

and get it out
to the people in need

in that moment...

so Mamas for Mamas
just stepped in

to provide that organization,
the structure.

It's a very grassroots approach,
but it's working really well.

We've processed more than
a million and a half donations

in the last four days.

It has been 24/7.

We had too many volunteers

and too many donations
to process,

which is a really good
problem to have.

At least half of the people
that have shown up to volunteer

are evacuees themselves.

Our goal is to make sure
that anyone who was evacuated

has the hygiene products,
the essentials, the clothing,

the little comforts
for their babies.

We've done about 1,200 meals
to the firefighters

in the last 72 hours,

and Mamas has not paid
for one bit of it.

We heard the place

that was feeding
and housing the firefighters

in Lake Country
burned down last night,

so UBC got
400 firefighters showing up,

so they've been
trying to feed them.

[♪♪♪]

Do we have any kind
of prepared meals

we could bring out

to the Lake Country
Food Department right now?

Yeah, I think
we just got 200 delivered.

Yes!

[phone line ringing]

[Cal] Hello?

Hi, Cal. This is
Shannon Christensen calling

with Mamas for Mamas.

I hear you have
some hungry firefighters?

Yeah. Yeah, we do. Yeah.

All right. I'm on my way.

I'm on my way right now
with 200 prepared meals.

Oh, excellent!
To, uh, Lake Country?

You betcha! And I'll be there
in probably about 38 minutes.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.
I really appreciate that.

I'll text you
the address shortly.

Oh, great.
And please let me know

if you need water
and Gatorade as well.

Sure, okay.

Thank you so much.
-Okay, thanks, Cal.

-I really appreciate that.
-Of course.

Yeah, you betcha.
Bye for now.

Fuckin' rights!

It's not just about
putting out fires,

and it's not just about
filling gaps in this moment.

It's about finding ways

to remember
that we're all human.

We all need compassion

at a time
when it's at a premium.

So there's
some vegan stuff there...

-Oh, very cool!
-...and I don't know

if you guys want
coffee and chips and that,

'cause we have it if you do.

I don't want to overload you
with stuff that you don't need.

We can take it
and put it inside.

[Shannon] Grief is love
with nowhere to go.

When you're grieving
for your home,

and you're hurting
and worried for your kids,

sometimes
the best thing you can do

is help somebody else.

-Thank you.
-Yeah, oh, my gosh, of course.

[Shannon] It lets you feel
like you're not doing it alone.

It reminds you
that when you need a hand,

someone
will be there for you.

It's, uh, it's really sad
to see so many people hurting,

but it's so beautiful to see
so many people wanting to help.

They are tired
of pizza and hot dogs,

and they were
so freaking grateful today.

Exclamation mark.

Good work, guys.

[beeping]

2017, the Elephant Hill Wildfire

came through

and took out the house
we had been living in

the last seven years, so...

now, this is,
this is tough to see.

This is reliving 2017,
for me, completely.

It was hard for my kids
especially

to come back to a place
that they loved,

had a lot of memories and...
but, you know,

that's what we had to work with
is the memories, and...

...and that's all you can do
is just rebuild

and start those memories
over again,

but this is, uh...
this makes it real.

[♪♪♪]

When my cabin burned down,

our boat was still
attached to the dock.

Keys were inside the cabin,

and I sifted through the ashes,

and I knew that if the house
would've burned down,

the keys would've dropped,
and in a couple minutes I found,

I was able to find the keys
in the ashes,

and cleaned them off,

and they were able
to start my boat.

[man] Three-five,
bravo-bravo-three. Over.

There's nothing more haunting
than a chimney being left.

You know, the homeowners
will just stand there

and stare at it,
like I did mine.

My heart goes out
to these people,

that they have to start over...

but this is why,
this is why I do what I do.

[♪♪♪]

[John] I thought every one
of those cabins was gone.

I thought they'd lost
every one of those houses,

you know,
from about here, down.

You know, at least
a third of the lake...

but with the structural stuff
you guys did,

yeah, I was surprised
this morning.

I go for a walk every day,

and this morning,
you could see across and see,

and I thought, "Geez,
they did a real job."

Pretty impressed.

[chainsaw buzzing]

Fire's died down, for now.

We need to get into places

to make sure that
there's nothing else smoldering

that could lead up
and creep towards a structure.

[timber snapping]

So that's...
our number-one goal

where there is fire involvement
close to structures,

but definitely our priority
is to continue to protect

the structures
that are not burned

that are still at risk...

[chainsawing]

...where they have fuel
in front of them,

where the fire
could spark up again

with a little bit of wind,

so we're not
out of the woods yet.

We have a lot of fuel,
a lot of heat up there...

[tree cracking]

...but we have
our protection in place,

and we are making sure
that it's all working,

and the other crews
are also out there

trying to head it off
with guards, with bucketing,

so we're trying
to cool the head of the fire

that's just ahead,
up above us on the hill there.

[helicopter rotors beating]

[Paul] The major firefight
was 24 hours,

and after that, we went into
what's called mop-up stage,

which is going
from fire to fire,

from smoke to smoke,

and completely extinguishing

anything that could
possibly come back up.

That went on for 28 days.

[♪♪♪]

[Paul] We calculated
that in order to have

actually made
significant differences

in the amount of homes saved,

we would have needed
90 apparatus.

We have three.

But you can't go back
in hindsight

and go, "Oh, geez, I wish
I did this, I did that."

I walk away from it as...

that was the largest fire
we had since 2003.

No one died,

and there were
very few injuries.

So, yeah, could that
have gone better?

Maybe.

Would we have made
a huge difference

in any direction?

I don't think so.

[♪♪♪]

Personally, I believe

you can't let something
like this just happen

without trying to improve

and trying to benefit
in some way,

so we learned
a tremendous amount,

how to prepare,
how to deal with,

how to come out of
these large events.

Hopefully there's
additional resources

from the federal government
and provincial government

that can assist
with that process,

because it does eventually
come down to money.

If you don't have
the resources to react,

then, well...
things are gonna burn.

That's the last photo
of my house

that I took that night.

We have basically
five ranks of fire activity,

but in the last
number of years,

we've added a sixth.

It's basically
the Westside Road here

and then Jenny Creek's in there.

I'm no climatologist.

I don't forecast
weather or trends,

but I do see the fact
that it's warmer and drier,

and the fires
are not stoppable...

so how you prepare
and how you react

is what's going to make
the biggest difference.

That's my little
piece of paradise.

[stopping engine]

There's my kitchen.

Sorry, you might get
some dark humour out of this.

I've been looking at this
for six weeks now,

and it's not getting
any better, but...

what are you gonna do?

You gotta laugh about it
and just go forward.

We came here in 2013
and went to look at lots.

This was the first lot we saw.

Just absolutely
fell in love with the trees,

fell in love
with the neighbourhood,

fell in love with the people
and the view,

and decided to move here
from the coast.

We drew the house.
We dug the hole.

We, uh... built the house.

Um, my wife tied the rebar,

um, and it was perfect.

I saw it burn
from Westside Road.

It was not possible
to drive up the road.

I-I tried
to drive up the road.

I only got
a couple of hundred metres,

and there was just
a wall of fire,

just no way
you could've driven through it.

I never thought
it was gonna happen to us.

We did not take the things
that we would have taken

if we actually
seriously considered

that this was gonna
be a thing.

We were here for eight years,
and it was perfect.

We had no intentions
of leaving or rebuilding,

um... and yeah,
here it is now.

[truck engine starting]

We're on Hamilton Court.

It's probably
the worst concentrated area

of most structures lost.

This one here is the ex-chief
from our fire department.

That's her house.

We have 24 members
on the fire department.

13 members out of 24

lost their houses
on that first night.

The impact on us is huge
when we lose a structure,

um, but it's more
if it's one of our own, right?

It just...
it's just normal, right?

It's just the guy working
next to you, fighting fire,

just lost his house,

and he's still here
fighting fire, so...

sorry, I'm gonna tear up.

Um...

yeah, that part sucked.

It was brutal.
Absolutely brutal.

But, yeah,
everybody stayed on the line.

Nobody left.

Nobody, you know,
curled up in a ball

and started crying.

Done lots of crying since then,
but that first 48 hours,

the whole department did
what they were supposed to do.

Yeah. It was incredible.

Next time on Wildfire...

I'm always thinking about fire.

It's an obsession, really.

My main role is to work
with communities

to help provide protection
from wildfire.

My name's Ryan Pascal.

I've been the Salish Nation unit
crew supervisor for 36 years.

Salish unit crew is all
First Nations since the start,

and I currently took the role
just this past spring.

We're seeing flames
300 feet above treetops.

We were a kilometre away,

you could actually
feel the fire indrafting.

We could feel the helicopter
being sucked in.

There was stress there,

of, like, okay, now
what are we going to do?

If something goes wrong here,
where are our options?