At least five different homes were destroyed or damaged by fire during the extreme cold weather event in the Cariboo Chilcotin recently.
Temperatures dipped down across the region, with windchills below -40 C causing frigid conditions for residents and firefighters.
The home of Jennifer and Steve Hohmann and their seven children who live on Higdon Road between Kersley and Quesnel was completely destroyed by fire on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
“It went so fast. You always hear ‘it’s faster than you think’ and that’s so true. Really fast,” Jennifer told Black Press after the incident was over and she had been attended to at GR Baker Memorial Hospital for smoke inhalation.
With no hydrants or water sources like lakes or ponds in the vicinity, the West Fraser Volunteer Fire Department (WFVFD) had to haul water in their tender (tanker truck), plus the tender brought to help by the Quesnel Fire Department (QFD). The QFD supplied a couple of people to work in conjunction with WFVFD’s six firefighters.
At 150 Mile House, a home and outbuilding belonging to Brent and Judy Lamothe were destroyed by a fire on Thursday, Jan. 11.
“Despite the best efforts from everyone, the log house was a complete loss, along with our beloved puppy and cat,” Judy said in a social media post.
She told the Tribune for now the family is staying in a basement suite in Williams Lake until they can rebuild. They are not sure what started the fire, she said.
The 150 Mile Mile Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) was dispatched at 6:45 a.m. and on arrival observed the outbuilding was fully involved and the fire had spread and breached into the main building, said Cariboo Regional District communications manager Gerald Pinchbeck in an emailed statement Thursday.
In total seven firefighters from 150 Mile VFD, nine from Williams Lake Fire Department (WLFD) and eight from Miocene VFD, with five apparatus and two command vehicles worked to suppress the fire.
Cold weather impeded crews’ ability to suppress the fire, creating challenges with hoses, pumps, and water available to action the fire, noted the CRD, adding remains under investigation, however no arson is suspected..
“We want to send a world of thanks to WLFD and Miocene VFD for their help and endurance in the cold,” said incident commander JJ Bast. “We also are sending a huge thanks to Scott Peterson and Mitch Jorgensen for their hard work to keep equipment running in the cold.”
In Tatla Lake, Kerry Lutz lost his home completely to a fire on Thursday, Jan. 11.
Melodie Gano of Tatla Lake said she got the call about the fire at 7:49 a.m. and by 8:14 a.m. it was fully involved.
“There were lots of people there to help, move vehicles further away from the fire,” Gano said. “But there wasn’t much anyone could do but stand there and watch the disaster happen.”
A family of six at Williams Lake First Nation had part of their home destroyed by a fire on Friday, Jan. 12 at Sugar Cane.
Emergency Support Services in Williams Lake helped support to family to stay in a motel, as they did not have fire insurance, but ESS manager Dave Dickson said ESS can only provide support for the first 72 hours with food, clothing and lodging.
On Tuesday, Jan. 9 the Big Lake Volunteer Fire and Rescue responded to a house fire in the region.
“The fire was contained and extinguished but the structure was lost,” said deputy fire chief Mark Wilkie, adding the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Wilkie said they fought the fire for six-and-a-half hours, with nine members and three apparatus.
“The home was unoccupied and there were no injuries,” he said.
The CRD in its news release reminded residents that smoke detectors save lives, and provide critical warnings if a fire does start in your home.
“It’s important to check that smoke detectors are in working condition and have had their batteries recently replaced. Additionally, with cold temperatures, it is important to ensure that combustible materials are moved away from heat sources to reduce the risk of a fire starting in your home.”
- With files from Frank Peebles.
