A couple whose home was destroyed when a wildfire tore through their mobile home park near Ashcroft, B.C. says they're trying not to dwell on what they've lost.
Mark and Sharon Utton had to leave their Boston Flats home in a hurry last week when they received an order to evacuate.
They said the fire was some distance away at that time, so they grabbed their cat and dog but didn't take much else. They left the dryer running with a load of towels inside. The Uttons thought they'd be out for a few hours. Maybe they'd have to be gone overnight.
But when the flames died down and the smoke cleared, their home was gone. Photos and video taken during a media tour showed all that was left of their property: The couple's charred washer and dryer.
They recalled to CTV News on Thursday how they felt at the moment they finally saw what was left of the life they'd built in the small community in B.C.'s Interior, the home they'd owned for only a year.
"It's just devastating to see and we kept seeing and looking at it and we thought, I'm sure that's ours," Sharon said.
"Then we noticed that the fence that was next door – the neighbour's, the one that's still there, still standing -- and we were just, 'Wow this is devastating,' just to see that there's nothing."
The couple lost everything they owned, including their wedding photos.
Footage from the scene revealed the damage left in the fire's wake, not just to the Uttons' home but to their entire community, from leveled homes and piles of rubble to burned vehicles and singed trees.
But, being from the U.K., they said they've been trying to keep a "stiff upper lip" and to "keep calm and carry on," adopting the saying first used by the British government during the Second World War as their personal mantra.
"And that's why I've kind of tried to make light of it and just say, 'Oh well the tumble dry was still working when we had to evacuate, I wonder if everything's dry,'" Sharon said with a laugh.
"It might need rewashing again, the towels might be a little bit sooty," Mark joked.
The day of evacuation, the couple initially struggled to find a place where they could stay with their pets.
"If it was just Sharon and I, human beings you know, we can get by. Whatever needs doing. But when you've got animals and pets, you've got to think about feeding and watering them and that side of it," Mark said.
They tried several motels, none of which had room, then called a neighbour who connected them with her grandson. They stayed with him in his camping trailer, and a friend of his brought over supplies for the couple and their pets.
The friend, who they'd never met before, then offered them a larger trailer that they could stay in as long as they needed. After staying there for a few days, they spoke with a colleague who offered their home in Ashcroft.
"That was a great, warm gesture, but it also enables us basically to have a place for quite a settled period, and then we can go back to work and live some sort of normal life while everything else is going on in the background, insurance, etc. etc.," Mark said.
They said they're thankful for everyone who's helped them, including those who've sent donations to evacuees.
Since learning they've lost all their possessions, some days have been harder than others.
"We have teary days and then another day you're just numb, because you just can't comprehend it, it seems surreal," Sharon said.
"If you let it get to you too too much, we don't want to get to that point where then we're in a state of depression. So we're just trying to do the best we can, and obviously we know there's a lot more people in the same situation as us."
They said they've run into some of their neighbours, and they've hugged and cried and shared stories. They hope to get together with everyone when things settle down, for a picnic in a park somewhere.
They also hope to return to Boston Flats to see the damage firsthand – they had to miss a tour of the community set up for residents because they were meeting with their insurance adjuster – but they don't expect much, if anything, will be salvageable.
"Just don't go looking for the towels because they won't be there," Mark laughed.
