West Kelowna residents thank firefighters with signs and free lemonade

WEST KELOWNA – A neighbourhood in West Kelowna that was one of the first to be evacuated by the Smith Creek fire last week are busy putting their lives back together, but not too busy to say thank you.

Sheri Dodd and her family live at the end of Cobblestone Drive. They were told Thursday they would have to leave and were only allowed to return Sunday. Her son Caisen, 8, took it upon himself to set up a free lemonade stand Monday morning.

“We did it because we thought it would be nice to say thank you for all of the hard work they have done,” he says. “We said it was free but the firemen actually gave us a little bit of money.”

Caisen says he gave out around nine glasses of lemonade over two days. His mom Sheri says her family was not the only one that did something nice for the fire crews.

“Lots of people brought cookies and things down for the workers guarding the gate and other neighbours have done things too,” she says. “One family started it with a thank you sign on the front of their house and other people just thought it was a good idea.”

All along Cobblestone Drive signs saying “thanks for saving our house” and “thank you firefighters” can be seen written on colourful cardboard, taped to garage doors.

Noah Thiessen, 13, and his ten-year-old brother Carter say they hoped the firefighters would see their sign and know how much their efforts were appreciated.

“All the firemen were helping out and being really kind so we just made a little card for them saying thanks,” Carter says.

West Kelowna Fire Rescue captain Lionel Bateman says these kinds of gestures, while not expected, are a good reminder of why they do what they do.

“When the community comes out and says thank you it makes us feel good that our efforts are appreciated,” he says. “We love our jobs and we wouldn’t trade it for anything but it’s an added bonus for us to know the community supports us and are happy with our efforts.”

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.