As thousands of people forced from their homes due to the Bald Range wildfire wait for evacuation orders to be lifted, many families already know the nightmare that’s waiting for them.
For John and Jolanda Poetsch, the evacuation from their Faulder home came down to minutes.
“As I was trying to hitch up the travel trailer, the flames appeared,” John said.
“It was a monster; I could just tell we had to get out of there right away.”
They would evacuate three times: first from their own home, then their parents’ house, and finally from a friend’s home in the middle of the night.
It was only after leaving that they learned through a video sent by a neighbour that the home John built from the ground up was gone.
The picture showed their home fully engulfed in flames.
“It was hard,” Jolanda said.
In the chaos, they also had to make the impossible decision to leave behind one of their cats, Felix.
“There was no saving him if we wanted to save ourselves,” John said.
“But we’re hoping that he found a safe place,” Jolanda added.
Their story is one of many, where homes were destroyed as the Bald Range wildfire exploded, prompting a province-wide state of emergency. More than 20,000 people have been forced from their homes by the fire, which remains a major threat in the Okanagan.
“I just put her in her swing, and she just swung away and napped,” Alora said.
“We were running around, screaming at each other and hucking stuff, and the dogs were freaking out, and she just slept through it all.”
They describe the evacuation as chaotic, with first responders rushing through the community as the fire moved closer.
“It was my childhood home,” Alora said.
“I lived in Faulder for 23 years. I want to raise my children there, but now we won’t get to.”
Inside that home was a nursery filled with everything their baby would need.
“We had toys, clothes, books, diapers, and wipes up until she was a year or two old because of our very generous family and friends,” she said.
“Now it’s all gone. I had saved all my toys from my childhood, and that’s all gone.”
But amid the loss, both families say they’ve seen something that has helped carry them through: their community.
For John and Jolanda, their GoFundMe is nearing its $30,000 goal, and this is on top of strangers and friends who have stepped up with everything from clothing, food, and work gear.
“He went into his home and grabbed an armful of clothing and handed it over to me,” John said of one act of generosity.
“He actually showed up today with some new work boots and some extra clothes. Unbelievable.”
Brandon and Alora’s GoFundMe has raised over $10,000 that they say is going towards re-buying baby supplies, tools for their respective trades, and an RV.
“We’ll park it on the property and start rebuilding,” Alora said.
“We want to be with our community,” Brandon added.
While the two families face a long road of rebuilding, the community is showing them they won’t have to do it alone.
source & photo: CityNews
