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Fire Boss Roy Benson

Man wearing a baseball hat speaks to microphones.

Text credit:
Paraphrased from the Salmon Am Observer,
 August 26, 1998

Photo Credit:
James Murray, Salmon Arm Observer, c. 1998

Fire Boss Roy Benson was quick to say he welcomed an inquiry when he met with the press late in August.

Roy Benson had been dealing with forest fires for 33 years. He had seen a great deal but he said he had never experienced anything like the Silver Creek Fire. The combination of dry conditions, unsettled wind, and proximity to homes created an incredibly intense situation.

“It was the most difficult of my career,” he told the Salmon Arm Observer.

He said he had never seen anything quite like the wind event which swept from the Fly Hills through the Salmon Valley and up Mount Ida toward Salmon Arm on August 5th .

“We think we can control Mother Nature, but we can’t,” he said. “Weather events are not as absolute as we would like them to be.”