Tom Mills' home along Tranquille-Criss Creek Road was burned by the Sparks Lake wildfire burning northwest of Kamloops Lake (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

SPARKS LAKE WILDFIRE

At least two properties burned as a result of Sparks Lake wildfire

Jul 2, 2021 | 5:39 PM

KAMLOOPS — Tom Mills’ house is gone. Left to pure rubble. All that is standing is the wood-burning chimney that sat in the middle of their home.

“It’s amazing to see this, eh,” he said. “All the times when we watched on TV and you see other people going through this and you think, ‘Man what a mess they’ve got.’ Now we’ve got it. This is a horrible mess.”

On Tuesday, the home was still standing. Fourty-eight hours later, it’s down to ash. It ripped through the property on Tranquille-Criss Creek Road, leaving behind a path of destruction.

Mills was seeing the mess for the first time on Friday. He was shocked when he drove in.

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“The first thing I sen was my Isuzu was discoloured — discoloured and disfigured. My Isuzu Trooper. It was kind of a rare vehicle,” said Mills.

There are at least two houses that have burned down from the Sparks Lake fire, including Tom’s brother, Jim Mills. The BC Wildfire Service says a significant shift in the winds brought the fire back to the area.

“My understanding is that the winds shifted more towards a westerly perspective, pushing the fire more on the eastern side,” said fire information officer on the Sparks Lake wildfire Greg Jonuk.

The fire now sits at 31,000 hectares, but could be bigger with smoke making it difficult to predict the real size. The TNRD says there are still 160 evacuation orders in place and 580 properties on alerts.

Mills is staying positive about the whole situation and is now awaiting word back from the insurance company.

“Hit up the insurance company and see what they say,” noted Mills. “We’ve just got to keep going until we find out whether the insurance company covers this and how much and what they say to do.”

However, Mills doesn’t know if they’ll rebuild, even after spending nearly half a century in the area.

“I said I wanted out of here, but I didn’t expect it to be this way,” he said.