It’s been a scary week for residents of the Similkameen region with the Keremeos Creek fire growing across the valley and closer to home. A family in the Cedar Creek area watched the fire descend near their homes Wednesday night. The property has been on evacuation alert since Sunday, two days after the fire first started and is located about five kilometers outside Olalla. Two of the granddaughters, Taylor Thompson and Cedar Carter, told Castanet that even when the fire spread and they were ordered to evacuate, they all had to stay to take care of the farm. “We can’t leave our animals, we have cows down there and our horses,” Thompson said. “We have 200 cattle somewhere out there. So we’re just hoping they’re OK and they get out,” Carter added. “This is our everything.” The family first became concerned on Sunday, returning home from Merritt when they saw how far the fire had gone. “We got the horses out and then Monday he was kind of in here and we were a little concerned but still waiting for him to come out,” Carter said. “It was crazy. We’ve been everywhere… And last night, it was chaos.” Thompson said they were having dinner when, all of a sudden, they got to the bottom of the street and the fire started coming straight toward their homes. “That’s when it all, shit hit the fan.” The family then called friends and relatives, asking for help. “We are so grateful, so grateful for all of them. I think everyone we knew came to help,” Carter said. Both said they were also incredibly grateful for the firefighter’s efforts to help protect their homes. “Even though it was so scary, it was amazing to see the community come together. It was incredibly amazing. Thanks to everyone who did,” Thompson added. Larissa Henschell, who lives on White Lake Road, commutes to Keremeo every day for work and has watched the fire grow over the past week. He said he saw the outbreak last night in the same area while heading home and was swept away by the fire scenes. “We suddenly saw this big kind of cloud coming from there. It almost looked like an explosion, just huge clouds of smoke was really crazy,” Henschell said. “The smoke and the heat coming out of that fire, it’s just unreal.” “Even though it was kind of scary at the same time, you’re just mesmerized by the flames like the way they light up the trees and how bright it is.” One consolation for Henschell was seeing how much the firefighters did. “There is this ranch by Cedar Creek and it was very close to it. We could see how the firefighters were preparing to protect the building there,” he added. “They do so much work and are amazing. They made us feel safe even though they were right there.” The morning after their close brush with disaster, the ranching family is tired, exhausted, and a little relieved that their heroic efforts against the fire saved their property. “We’re thankful, we have enough food to feed an army and the community is still bringing in food trucks,” Carter said with a laugh. The Keremeos Creek Fire is still very active, classified as out of control and growing. More properties were placed under evacuation orders Thursday afternoon. The fire broke out on Friday, July 29 and has so far resulted in the loss of one home. Photo: Larissa Henschell Click here to view the collection
