Shawn Dennis says he and his family were some of the lucky ones when the White Lake fire jumped the Fraser River on July 15.
“As you can see the fire went right around the house,” Dennis said during a media tour. “We had embers falling that were this big before we left,” he said stretching out his arms away from both sides of his body.
Dennis and his wife Lisa purchased their home a year to the day they evacuated on July 15 with their daughters Anistynn and Jessica.
Before they left they watched the fire crest on the top of the mountain on the west side of the river, hit the bottom.
They did not realize the fire had jumped the river until thick smoke came through the trees and Dennis said he felt the heat.
“It was so dark you couldn’t see flames,” he said. “Right then it was time to go so we got out of here.”
They did not have sprinkler protection on their home that day, but the fire department put sprinklers up after the fire went through, Dennis said.
During the media tour, fire information officer Rachel Witt talked about the FireSmart aspects of Shawn and Lisa’s property.
Pointing out that trees of different heights can make it easier for fires to climb up into crown fires, Witt said the trees inside the fire smart parameter of their property were pruned.
“The fire could not find branches and twigs and climb up,” she said.
Other good examples were the home’s metal roof as well as the fact the shed, which was lost in the fire, was several metres away from the home.
“You want to make sure you don’t have any type of quads or anything that can be flammable within your priority zone one,” she said.
Dennis said when they purchased their home all of the fire smart aspects were already in place.
Rachel Witt and Shawn Dennis speak during the media tour arranged by the Cariboo Regional District.