Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby for over 18 years, you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
By Colleen Fielding
Live at the top of West Shore Estates, they dodged the bullet in 2021 the fire was extremely close to them. In 2021 Gary and Joan had been evacuated from their home for 5 weeks. So far this time it has been a week. They feel very fortunate; their neighbours have kept in contact with them and have told them there is not much damage to the houses. In their area there have been a lot of separate fires, 2021 causing a lot of structural damage including the big loss of The Little Kingdom Store, 2023 fire was not near Gary and Joans house but burned the Okanagan Lake Resort to the ground.
Joan works in Vernon as a baker she leaves her house about 3:00 am in order to get to work on time, in the early morning Joan driving up Westside Road she could see the orange ring on the side of the mountains and could also see some emergency vehicles. The fire was not crazy and aggressive at this time, so Joan continued to go to work. When work finished about 1:00 pm Joan phoned Gary to see if the road was closed, he had been through there earlier in the day and it was still open. By 2:30 pm Joan was trying to get across Westside Road, there was an RCMP car blocking the road. He asked Joan where she was going, she told him home. He then told her she wasn’t going through that way as there was a wall of flames. She asked him if the road going through the south was open, the officer didn’t know. Joan turned around and headed home that way. Joan got home and started to get things prepared, within the hour they were under alert then order to leave. Joan was checking out the evacuation alerts and her email constantly it says which roads need to get out as this is where she got the notice to leave, and also the notice when it was time to return home.
While their emotions are intact, Joan is feeling fine until she thinks of the people that have lost everything. Their livestock, other animals, their homes, except for the clothes on their backs. Joan is glad that both her and Gary have been “spared” they were lucky more than once to be able to get away and be safe from the fires.
They are very grateful for the Lions Campground, and special thanks to the hosts Cheryl and her brother Ken
