Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

BUSH CREEK EAST WILDFIRE

Skwlāx to host one-year wildfire commemoration event

Aug 9, 2024 | 5:30 PM

SKWLAX — What was engulfed in flames and dark smoke last August in Skwlāx te Secwepemcúl̓ecw territory is still charred, but regrowth and rebuilding is coming into view.

Skwlāx is preparing to commemorate one-year since the Bush Creek East wildfire. More than 30 homes on band land were lost to the flames, but Skwlāx has already rebuilt new homes in three subdivisions.

“We already have a fair amount of our band members living in the Rapid Housing Initiative and they’re all happy,” Skwlāx Ku̓kpi7 James Tomma told CFJC this week, ahead of the community’s one-year anniversary event on August 18.

More than a dozen of those rapid homes are now completed, and more are under construction within three different Skwlāx subdivisions. The goal is to get everybody into a home by December of this year.

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“Well on our way not only as far as housing but next year we’ll start our reforestation program,” explains Tomma, who adds that part of their rebuilding process does include identifying what sort of work needs to be done to rehabilitate the surrounding land on Secwepemc territory that experienced fire damage, and ensuring the watersheds are healthy.

Tomma and his brothers were among the last to leave, watching the flames enter the community after taking cover under the bridge. He says the trauma, and anxiety is still there.

“If we ever hear of a forecast with a lightning storm, we have people phoning in. What are we going to do, what should we do? And *motions hand* you’re safe.”

Next week Skwlāx plans to host an event for the entire community, which is open to the broader public. Ku̓kpi7 Tomma likens the one-year anniversary feeling to certain aspects of a funeral.

“You celebrate that person’s life and all of that. And that’s what we’re going to do on August 18, is celebrate the life that we had on the land, and the life that we’re going to have on it still,” he says.

Come August 18, Tomma says he’ll be thinking of the work put in to keep the community together, and bring residents home.

“Seeing the band members bounce back and be resilient and say ‘we’re still here. Now what? Now what can we do?’, I find that incredible.” Tomma adds, “Not admitting defeat or anything, but understanding Tqeltkukwpi7 (Creator) put a task in front of us to overcome, and they’ve done it. That’s all I can say about my people.”

Image Credit: Skwlāx te Secwepemcúl̓ecw