‘A waiting game’: Future uncertain for Summerland family after house razed by wildfire

All that remains of Summerland resident Lisa Reimche’s family home and property in the Faulder community is a pile of ashes with some metal pieces sticking up here and there.

The wife and mother of two little girls recently returned to her property for the first time since fleeing the Bald Range wildfire that tore through Summerland last week.

“It looked like a moonscape,” she told iNFOnews.ca. “The only thing that really hit hard was my daughter’s bed frame, it was the only thing left standing. That just hit. That’s where my kids grew up.”

Currently living with her small family in a tiny trailer at a friend’s place in Penticton, Reimche is still holding her full-time job working with adults with disabilities, and finding her kids clothes and necessities.

She’s unclear what the next steps are when it comes to house insurance, bills and property cleanup.

It was the evening of Aug. 8 when she first saw the smoke from the wildfire, that was travelling at high speed.

“Within 20 minutes it was in our yard,” she said. “We have two little kids, a dog and a cat and lots of chickens.

“We were able to grab the dog and one box of papers. The cat was outside, we couldn’t find him. We left the coop open hoping the chickens would flee.”

Reimche took the kids in one vehicle while her husband followed in another.

The worst part of the crisis, she said, was hearing her daughters wailing from the back seat.

“They were thinking they were going to die,” she said. “They were screaming thinking their dad was going to die, it was just awful.

“My youngest daughter was throwing up with worry over the row of cars behind us thinking they might not get out in time.”

The family arrived at a relative’s house in Summerland before the whole group was evacuated with the rest of the city at 2 a.m.

It was three days later when someone travelling through the fire torn neighbourhood posted a video on social media, showing the family’s house was destroyed.

Four days ago, on advice found on social media, Reimche called the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen and submitted her name, address and phone number hoping to confirm the status of her property.

She recently received an email from the province and was able to get a permit to visit the property, which she did, Aug. 16.

“You get an email with a time slot and go to the IGA parking lot to pick up a temporary access pass,” she said. “We drove to the property. There were RCMP present watching the neighbourhood.

“Sadly, the chickens didn’t leave the coop and they all perished. I spent most of the time looking for the cat while my kids stayed in the car.”

A day later, after she’d already been to see what was left of her home, a spokesperson from the regional district called with the property’s status.

Reimche is looking for a rental in Summerland where her kids will be attending school in a couple of weeks but so far isn’t having any luck.

“There’s not much for rent here to begin with,” she said. “We’re just hoping to find something that doesn’t have wheels under it to live in. We have nothing left.”

House insurance will eventually kick in to help pay for their living costs, but it isn’t clear when that will happen and she has been told it is a long process.

She’s finding some help through local emergency services, and clothing and necessities through a local free store run by resident Joel Patan who also lost his house.

“It has been a huge resource where we can meet up with neighbours,” Reimche said. “He set up a store front for clothing donations only meant for families who’ve lost everything.”

She is still be receiving monthly household bills and recently spent hours on the phone with Telus.

“Telus was a big ordeal where a lot of us tried to cancel our services, they’re the only service our area,” Reimche said. “A lot of neighbours were asked to pay thousands of dollars to get out of their contracts. I had to be on hold for over three hours to get them to waive the fees.

As for answers from their insurance company on next steps for the cleanup, she said “it’s all a waiting game.”

Despite losing everything, including family photos, Reimche and her husband’s biggest focus remains on their two small children.

“I don’t know exactly how to navigate this but we have amazing, resilient kids,” she said. “In the last ten days they never once asked where their toys or teddies are. They’re just worried about everyone else and our cat.”

Jasper is a friendly, three-year-old main coon and anyone who sees him can contact Reimche here through Facebook messenger.

When asked what advice to give other residents going through similar crisis, Reimche said “just lean on your neighbour, we’re all here for each other.”

A online fundraiser has been set up to help Reimche set up a non-profit society for Faulder to get the community fire response tools like hydrants.