When Kim Judd said she’d return to town to cook for the Williams Lake Fire Dept., fire inspector Joan Flaspohler said “thank God.”
Judd had self-evacuated to Quesnel when the wildfires broke out on Friday, July 7 because it looked the highway was going to be closed, she said.
Under the banner of her company Blue Spoon Catering Judd and a crew of nine people have been making three meals a day for firefighters and crews from various fire departments around the province that have come to help with structure protection. They have been cooking steady since Wednesday, July 12.
“We are set up at the curling rink,” Judd told the Tribune during a phone interview Thursday. “We are here from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. at night.”
They are feeding between 130 to 150 people a day, making breakfast, providing them with a bag lunch, and then serving dinner.
She has not had a food truck come in so far, but said Safeway opened its doors for a day and let her come and get some supplies, and she’s been told her food supplier is coming to Williams Lake on Friday.
Clearance was also given for her to drive up to Quesnel to purchase some food there.
“Tonight we are having pork chops, sweet corn, salad, buns and we are making rice crispies,” Judd said of Thursday’s menu. “We try to serve all hot meals.”
When asked if she needs anything, Judd said they are looking pretty good.
“We have people dropping off food and others raiding gardens,” she chuckled. “It’s really coming together.”
Thursday morning’s rainfall was short, but it got rid of some of the smoke and Judd said she could see blue sky for the first time in a while as she looked out from the curling rink.
Judd owns a building on Highway 97 South that she runs her catering business out of and said Flaspohler knows her from doing inspections at the building.