Eyewitness account tells story of crew trapped by devastating 2023 Shuswap wildfire

A BC Wildfire helicopter pilot was one of the first to notice that the wind was quickly changing as they stared down and saw ground crews working on a controlled burn in the forest below.

The pilot radioed down telling crews they were seeing a “dramatic shift” in the wind and fire, and that they needed to use their escape routes to get away fast.

The situation was moving very quickly and the pilot noticed the change in the wind had started new spot fires in the area.

They realized that the crew’s escape route was soon to be cut off.

It was August 2023 and the helicopter pilot was battling a fire that had started five weeks before, the Lower East Adams Lake and the Bush Creek East wildfires. Both fires eventually made their way to the northern shore of Shuswap Lake destroying more than 170 homes and damaging dozens more.

The fallout from the fire saw BC Wildfire Service criticized by local governments and homeowners alike as people demanded answers as to why the fire was allowed to grow so big.

But before the fires devastated much of the lakeside town of Scotch Creek, BC Wildfire Service members were on the ground nearby trying to stop the fire reaching the town.

In this 2023 photo, the Scotch Creek fire hall is barely recognizable as little but a charred overhead door and a staircase remain standing.

A recent BC Wildfire Service report, made available through a Freedom of Information Request, gives a play-by-play account of conditions on the ground in the days before the fire entered the town.

While the report uses many technical terms, and large parts have been redacted, it gives an idea of the reality for those with boots on the ground, without the benefit of hindsight.

“At 12:00 the Coast Zulu Initial Attack crew had been tasked with a spot fire in the Scotch Creek drainage approximately 4 km ahead of fire K21620 (the “main fire”),” the report reads. “This main fire run had moved onto the height of land at the head of the Cornell (Lee) Creek drainage. The spot fire was located beyond the high-voltage power lines, which the incident management team viewed as a secondary control line and had become the next viable containment area of the main fire.”

The plan was to get access to the one-and-a-half-hectare fire and contain it.

“Preventing the spot outside of this containment line from becoming a problem and threatening Scotch Creek was identified as an important objective by the incident management team,” the report says.

Crews made their way to the site and dealt with the spot fire having it mostly contained as the operations chief, branch director and fire behaviour analyst decided on a planned ignition known as a backfire process.

“This ignition was conducted with a Heli torch to create the necessary intensity to create a column capable of drawing air away from the control line along the identified power lines and widening a
fuel-free area to prevent aggressive fire growth. Winds were upslope and favourable to this operation as the fire continued to track easterly along the plateau,” the report says.

As the helicopter couldn’t fly next to the power lines, it was decided to send a ground crew in to do a “clean-up” of the fire edge.

“Derek Rushton, who was a Task Force Leader for the East portion of K21620 area, arrived to supervise the ground ignition operations. When he arrived and made an assessment of the IA crews’ capabilities, he realized that they had limited tools for the task, fuel required a better mix ratio and they were going to require his direct involvement in all ground ignition operations. The additional Brazilian crew of 20 people were available; however, the language barrier, lack of tools and (redacted) was also going to be a challenge, since there were only (redacted),” the report reads.

The only fuel available was gas from a fuel truck and some diesel from the equipment working in the area. Three jerry cans were filled and crews made the plan to drive the nine kilometres in and light the fire on the way out.

“The crew then organized and started to drive into their objective up the improved trail to the powerline road leading to the Lee Creek drainage. As they drove in, there was a sense of intensity as there was active crown fire visible approximately a hundred meters into the trees from their location,” the report reads.

The chopper pilot was the only lookout for the crew, and the distance the ground crew had to cover late in the day, gave them a “strong sense of risk.”

The report says the pilot knew the operation would last a few hours and they would have to land sooner than that.

A gas station near Squilax was razed after the Bush Creek East wildfire swept through the area in 2023.

Crews had been on the ground burning by hand for about 45 minutes when they noticed the wind beginning to change.

“The smoke was going to be an intermittent factor but the operation was still within the plan. However, the Zulu crew leader started to look more closely at the map for additional escape routes as a precaution,” the report says.

Fifteen minutes later the wind shifted again, picking up and spreading spot fires. The pilot radioed for crews to leave using their escape routes immediately.

“The westerly winds were now starting to appear more consistent, and the (helicopter pilot) observed that this might become a problem for the Brazilian holding crew,” the report reads.

The pilot then noticed multiple spot fires and realized the only escape route was soon to be cut off.

Another pilot used a mapping app on their phone and found an alternative escape route and radioed the info to the crew on the ground.

“The… crew realized the Brazilian crews were not receiving the message and were turning to go back towards the now escaping fire. One crew member jumped out of the truck to run faster than the … truck could travel on the rough road and flag down the Brazil crew. Once they were notified of the escape route, they were able to contact the next Brazil crew and radio them to join the group leaving the alternate escape route so they could drive out as a convoy,” the report says.

As the crew headed for the escape route, they came across a fire too intense to drive past and headed off-road in the bush. The ride was rough and damaged each truck that drove down it.

The report says a truck ended up on two wheels, but redacts what happened.

“Everyone reported an immense sense of relief once they had cleared down the escape route a few hundred metres.”

However, one truck was still tramped and had no escape option.

“Despite repeated radio calls to the crew, there was no effective communication. An interpreter was relaying messages to the crew the best they could. The (pilot) was trying to convince the crew to hike out but they appeared to not be moving which caused increasing strain on the (pilot) due to their inability to support his crew,” the BC Wildfire Service reports says.

The report says the Brazilian crew did get the message to hike out but decided to stay put. They used sticks to burn the grass away and parked their truck in the middle of a reasonably open area.

Parts of the report are redacted leaving it difficult to fill in the blanks.

Fire captain Brian Dalgliesh speaks to reporters in front of what remains of the Scotch Creek fire hall on Sept. 6, 2023.

The report says the crew drove back to Kamloops to go to their hotel and “few words were spoken.”

Meanwhile, a safety officer was “repeatedly” asking the Brazilian interpreter about whether the crew were OK.

At 11 p.m. the interpreter and another firefighter drove up the escape route to see if they could now get to the Brazilian firefighters. They did and found them asleep in their truck.

The 91-page report gives multiple details of what happened that day, and what contributed to the firefighters becoming tramped.

The report says the map available did not include one of the alternative escape route roads, although it is on most mapping apps and the rough road is used by locals.

“But its existence did not register as a known escape route with the people under stress or in planning,” the report says.

The proximity of the fire to the community added “significant pressure” to the decision to do the ignition operation, and the report says the crew doing the groundwork was inexperienced.

The language barrier also caused delays and made communication “challenging.”

The redacted report also gives other insights into the situation on the ground once the fire reached the Scotch Creek area.

Two firefighters noted that buildings that were fine minutes earlier were now fully engulfed.

“They watched as the fire rapidly crossed the road in front of them, jumped the river, and ran back up the hill on the other side,” the report says.

All the fires became extremely aggressive and started to make “rapid moves” in multiple locations.

In the Holding Road area, tensions were high.

One firefighter reported residents coming out in shorts and flip-flops trying to extinguish spot fires.

“Frustrations escalated when locals repeatedly took essential equipment – bladders, hoses, and pumps – three times in one day.

“The residents were under the impression that BC Wildfire Service had abandoned them. This led to growing animosity among everyone involved. Despite these challenges, structure defence and protection operations continued throughout the night on Holding Road, with crews rotating on a four-hour work-rest cycle,” the report reads.

While residents lost their homes, the fire was also threatening to destroy the camp and airstrip where 400 BC Wildfire Service firefighters were sleeping.

With everyone out fighting the fire, three staff members attempted to collect the personal belongings from the firefighters’ tents. Every available vehicle was loaded up with stuff.

“The toll of moving and rebuilding basic incident infrastructure after the camp evacuation and associated move of the Incident Command Post created a lot of challenges. Basic living accommodations needed to be set up, crew personnel had to sift through bags to find their rapidly packed belongings and providing food for so many people throughout the unplanned move was a huge challenge. Many people took things well in context of the situation, but it was nonetheless difficult to be camping out and not having a place to call ‘home’ after an exhausting ordeal,” the report says.

An pet owner’s shirt in an area burned by the Bush Creek East wildfire set up to attract the pet, appears in this photo from 2023.

Separately, a WorkSafeBC report called the entrapment of the firefighters a “near miss.”

“This incident had the potential for serious injury or death to workers,” the WorkSafeBC incident report reads.

WorkSafe BC concludes that BC Wildfire Service did not provide adequate information, instruction, training or supervision to the crews involved in the ignition operations, which led to the entrapment.

The planned ignition was criticized by many in the community who blamed the ignition on setting the town ablaze.

However, there is no mention in the report that the planned ignition was the reason why so many properties were destroyed.

Days after the controlled burn, the BC Wildfire Service defended the move saying the planned ignition saved hundreds of homes and properties along the north Shuswap.