Monte Lake resident Ted Dickens looks at his home that remains after the White Rock Lake wildfire tore through the area (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

MONTE LAKE RETURN

‘It’s a miracle’: Monte Lake man describes seeing home still standing upon return

Aug 18, 2021 | 5:13 PM

MONTE LAKE, B.C. — Ted Dickens’ barn burned down, but not his house just metres away.

As he came home Tuesday night — with the rest of Monte Lake and Paxton Valley residents being allowed to return — he is incredibly grateful to still have a home.

“Just so overwhelming. There’s no way to describe it. We were just so happy to come home and see everything,” said Dickens. “We feel so blessed. It’s such a miracle that everything’s still here.”

The Dickens are among the lucky ones in the Monte Lake and Paxton Valley areas. The White Rock Lake wildfire somehow skirted some homes, while completely destroying others.

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A car is scorched by the White Rock Lake wildfire that destroyed homes in the Monte Lake and Paxton Valley areas (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

For those who lost their home due to the fast-moving fire, they’re looking for assistance from all levels of government. On Tuesday night, some residents attended a public meeting in Westwold to talk about fire recovery.

Some didn’t feel they got any assurances from the Thompson-Nicola Regional District.

“We’re clearly not able to offer financial support. We don’t have funding for that sort of thing. That will have to come from the province,” said TNRD Board Chair Ken Gillis. “But I’m hoping we can assist people by expediting permits and that kind of thing.”

The residents are hoping they can rely on other levels of government — financially at least — in the recovery process.

A home in Monte Lake destroyed by the White Rock Lake wildfire (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

“If you’re someone who has lost your home, John Horgan needs to say that he’s going to pull out all the stops to make sure there’s compensation available to help people do that, particularly folks that may not have insurance,” said Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone. “If people need help with irrigation systems that have been destroyed, with losses relating to the cattle that they have.”

While some residents are screaming for government help, there’s no doubt about the community support while people were on evacuation order. Dickens certainly felt it.

“The fire was coming down on us and we dropped the hoses and ran, so we were so worried about the animals more than anything else in the beginning,” said Dickens. “But people started texting us — people we never knew saying, ‘We saw this animal, we saw that animal. We did this and we did that, and we fed them. We checked their food.’ Then the SPCA came along and watched over them, and even the RCMP came and checked in on them and left notes for us, said they gave them some love while they were here.”