ONE YEAR AGO.
It started on a Thursday evening, a small fire just outside of Ashcroft.
By the morning, strong winds had fanned it to 700 hectares and it was ravaging the Boston Flats mobile home park.
Before it was done, the fire changed names, it changed courses and it changed lives forever.
Dozens of homes were leveled by the Elephant Hill fire as it eventually grew to nearly 200,000 hectares.
But of the dozens of fires that erupted on that fateful weekend, Elephant Hill was different.
While most were sparked by a series of lightning storms that blew through the B.C. Interior, Elephant Hill was directly caused by human activity.
The BC Wildfire Service launched an investigation, and not long after, turned it over to criminal investigators with the BC RCMP.
Since then, the RCMP have gone exceptionally quiet.
While dozens of families try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, the broader community is left to believe that wildfires just happen.
Well, some wildfires do just happen, ignited by lightning that strikes where it pleases.
Others are started by careless or malicious people.
When those fires destroy trees and not much else, perhaps it’s not as urgent that the public is kept apprised of the probes into their origin and cause.
When those fires burn through homes and lead to lengthy, widespread evacuations, it’s essential that we know how they began, and that those responsible are made accountable.
Surely, investigators know more than they are letting on.
Because it wasn’t a gruesome murder or assault, there hasn’t been the same call for answers.
There should be.
Arguably, this event affected a much broader segment of the community.
It’s time this community gets some answers about Elephant Hill.
