A dozen properties destroyed in wildfire north of Whistler: eyewitness

Roughly a dozen properties in a popular southern B.C. recreational community have been destroyed, per eyewitness accounts to The Canadian Press, as the Downton Lake wildfire, 110 kilometres northwest of Whistler, has taken a devastating run.

Flames from the lightning-caused wildfire had made slow but steady progress through steep, wooded terrain at the western end of Gun Lake since the blaze was sparked on July 13, but suddenly flared late Monday.

Gun Lake, BC this afternoon as a firestorm, high winds and bone dry woods burned furiously. Many family cabins burnt. The entire lake evacuated. For residents on the North side, in the Nick of time as the fire expanded very fast. #wildfires #GunLake pic.twitter.com/16PNxjyMoB

— Lancelot Link (@countrygent99) August 2, 2023

An evacuation order covering the more than 200 properties around the lake was issued Tuesday and quickly upgraded to critical, urging the many seasonal and handful of permanent residents to leave for Lillooet or Whistler.

Evacuation alerts were also extended to areas north of Gun Lake, including Tyaughton Lake and the Tyax Resort, as the nearly 16-square-kilometre fire almost quadrupled in size since Monday.

The destruction and evacuation orders and alerts came as most residents of the southern Okanagan town of Osoyoos were returning to their homes after a wildfire raced north from Washington state on Saturday, burning to within a few metres of some properties before a wind shift spared the community.

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The Gun Lake and Osoyoos wildfires are among more than 360 active wildfires across B.C., including 16 the B.C. Wildfire Service says were sparked in the last day.

Eighty-one-year-old Gun Lake resident John Rose said he intends to stay as long as possible to keep the sprinklers running on the roof of his log house and on the heritage log cabins on the neighbouring property built by his parents in the 1940s.

Roughly a dozen properties near Gun Lake, north of Whistler, have been destroyed by wildfire. (Courtesy Southchilcotin.ca)

“This isn’t heroic,” said Rose, a retired BC Parks Service ranger, whose property is across the lake from the flames.

“I just don’t think anyone else could handle this setup.”

Speaking to CityNews, Gold Bridge Hotel owner Peter Kimber said the town of Gold Bridge is a sight of “pandemonium, panic,” while residents try to get their affairs in order if they need to evacuate quickly.

“The one thing we’re very fortunate for here is that it’s a fairly close-knit community. And everybody’s working with each other to make sure everybody’s okay,” he said.

Kimber said watching the fire from the front porch of his hotel on Tuesday, it took only a matter of hours for the fire to make its way climb down the hill to Gun Lake.

While he says with the current wind conditions make it unlikely the fire will encroach into Gold Bridge, “It’s tragic for many” already affected.

“It’s quite a lot of residential. The mass majority of the people who own properties at the lake use them for vacation homes. But some of those “vacation homes” as they call them, they’re like four, and five, and $6 million houses,” he said.

Kimber said he’s got a “full house” of firefighters, with a few other hotels and motels helping out the community and wildfire fighters.

“Everybody’s pitching in to make sure that the firefighters are being well taken care of. We’re feeding them as best we can, and we’re taking good care of them and they’re taking good care of us,” he explained.

Waterfront communities around Gun Lake have been ordered to urgently evacuate due to concerns stemming from a growing nearby wildfire. (Courtesy: Squamish-Lillooet Regional District)

The flare-up of the Downton Lake blaze happened just as the young Ontario firefighter who died last week in northeastern B.C., was identified as 25-year-old Zak Muise.

An online obituary posted by the firefighting contractor who employed Muise called him a “vital member” of the crew.

RCMP have said he was killed when his heavy-duty ATV rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road in a remote area about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John.

A funeral is scheduled for later this month in Simcoe, Ont., and the obituary also said a public memorial was being planned in B.C.

Muise was the fourth Canadian wildland firefighter to die this year, and the second to die in B.C.

On July 13, 19-year-old Devyn Gale died while combating a wildfire near her hometown of Revelstoke, B.C., after she was hit by a falling tree.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect attribution from an eyewitness, per The Canadian Press.

–With files from Mike Lloyd