A community rebuilding together

At the height of the “Firestorm ’98” Salmon Arm Administrator Doug Lagore was looking ahead on at least two fronts.

The first was that the community and all volunteers would need to share in an “I-survived-the-fire” type celebration when the fire was finally extinguished.

The second was the need for some kind of support group, made up of volunteers who would spearhead an effort to restore life as closely as possible to normal for those who suffered losses in the fire – as quickly as possible.

167 volunteers, 50 heavy machine operators and dozens of pieces of heavy equipment turned out to help clean up fire-hit properties. Working are: Gary Hucul, Peter Purves, Karen Sulphur and, in the excavator, Terry Sulphur.

…Along with over a hundred other volunteers, Jenna Latham, Sandy Latham, and Patricia Newcomb participated in the clean-up. Organizers estimated more than $100,000 worth of labour and equipment were donated in the two days.

Fire survivor Ernie Krick said both the clean up and the open house were real comforts to him and his family.

“Everybody did a super job,” he said. “No complaints at all.” Krick  hoped to be in his new home by Thanksgiving.

But there were some difficult moments as they went through what they lost when their home burned in the August 5^th fire storm.

“It was emotional…seeing all the stuff in the house going,” he said.

Rob Stunzi cutting metal beams with a specialized saw. Fire victims were helped by many volunteers.

BC Telephone employee Bob Tam replaced telephone lines that were burned by the Silver Creek Fire. Gord Duplisse drove the truck. There were still fires in the grass while the two did the work. Duplisse said only about 500 yards needed replacing.

Restringing telephone lines.