Monte Lake community still sifting through damage as 2021 wildfire season cools down

“That combined with the amount of lightning strikes that we saw this year which was unseasonably high,” Desrosiers says. “The number of days of dry lightning was also unusual, so those are some major factors.”

About 4,000 personnel were involved in fire response efforts and the B.C Wildfire Service says resources were a bit of a challenge – given the pandemic state and other areas being unable to spare crews with their own fires burning.

“Common practice is an annual, seasonal review,” Desrosiers says, “So now that the fire season is coming to an end, we’ll take a more thorough look at the season, lessons learned, and look at the challenges and what we need to do in the future.”

Needing every crew member they were able to get, the other challenge the service had to navigate was keeping COVID-19 out of fire camps.

“No major COVID outbreaks. Occasional cases here and there, but when that happened with the rapid testing, we were able to isolate those individuals,” Desrosiers explains. “Make sure that the COVID measures in place at camps and things like that were up to par and to limit those spreads.”

(To read the full summary from BCWS, click here)

As the wildfire service looks to prepare for next summer, residents in Monte Lake are still picking up the pieces and determining the extent of the damage caused when the White Rock Lake wildfire ripped through the area.

CFJC spoke with Monte Lake resident Anita Jacobsen, whose property was spared by the flames, but drives through the destruction left behind in the area every day.

“Some people have already cleared out their properties and done a big clean up,” Jacobsen says. “Some are still waiting, I believe for insurance companies, and then some just simply are not in an emotional state to be able to handle it. There’s a lot of PTSD happening in here – justifiably so.”

Wanting to do something to help her neighbours, Jacobsen put together fundraising raffle baskets and has been managing a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for ten families in the area who were not insured when the fire ignited.

“As much as I wanted to help everyone that I can – because there’s a lot of other people that are really hurting – I kind of had to focus the money somewhere, so that’s who my target audience was. And it’s been really nice. I’ve been able to hand out some of the funds this week, and just people are really appreciating it.”

Jacobsen says the combination of efforts have raised around $15,000 so far and hopes community members and businesses will consider contributing. She notes there have been many offers for physical goods and furniture, but many families don’t have a home or storage space to keep these items in, so monetary donations are more versatile.

There’s no deadline on the fundraising efforts, and Jacobsen plans to continue accepting and distributing donations throughout the fall and winter months.

“It’s far surpassed what I had kind of expected or hoped for, and that’s just, that’s community – right.”

by Dylana Kneeshaw

Monte Lake community still sifting through damage as 2021 wildfire season cools down

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