'It's horrific': Evacuees get first look at devastation from wildfire in small B.C. community

Residents of a small B.C. community hit hard by a wildfire are beginning to get a first-hand look at the devastation left behind.

“It’s horrific. It’s beyond description,” said Venables Valley evacuee Jim McComb.

He is one of those forced out of his home by the Shetland Creek Wildfire near Spence’s Bridge. It burned about six homes and twenty other buildings in the off-grid community of Venables Valley.

“This was a beautiful cottage that we built many years ago,” said evacuee McComb in a video shared with CTV News as he surveyed the damage at his 160-acre organic farm.

“I had about six cabins that were burned to the ground and RV trailers, my workshop, all my machinery and tractor,” he said.

McComb also lost the crops on his farm. However, his main home survived the blaze though he no longer has water or hydro.

Video from Venables Valley, where about 100 people live, shows burned structures, vehicles and trees.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Mark Greenberg, another evacuee from the community.

He said his home and shop survived the wildfire, but that “just about everything else was destroyed.”

Greenberg said he was helping a neighbour and was one of the last to leave the night the wildfire roared into his community

“There was nobody that was going to survive that wall of flame that was racing toward us,” he said.

“A big fire demon came over the mountain and we had to run for our lives,” recalled McComb.

But both men have high praise for firefighters.

“Those guys and gals were in there fighting what they called some of the craziest fires they’ve ever seen,” Greenberg said.

“The firefighters did an incredibly fantastic job. I can’t believe they were able to even save the houses that they did,” said McComb.

The Shetland Creek Wildfire is now more than 24 square kilometres. However, cooler temperatures, less wind and even a little rain have helped firefighting efforts.

“That’s allowed us to do a lot of what we call mopping-up work, so getting rid of anything that’s hot on the fire edge,” said explained Alan McCartney, an information officer with the B.C. Wildifre Service.

“It’s also allowed us to cut new containment lines or as the Canadians call them, guards. And they’re for either to stop the fire or ignition to burn off fuel in front of the fire in the coming days,” McCartney explained.

He’s part of a 200-person team from Australia and New Zealand assisting in the firefighting effort.

McCartney said there are currently 17 aircraft dumping water on the blaze as well.

About a dozen people from Venables, including Greenberg, have recently completed training in fighting wildfires.

“We do get spot fires in the valley and 10;21 now we have 12 people trained to go and deal with that,” he said.

Meanwhile, McComb said he wishes more would have been done to prevent the fire from starting in the first place.

“For 30 years I’ve been lobbying the government to address the high risk of forest fires in our area,” he said.

Still, the community remains united in building back what the fire took from them and a relief fund has been set up to help.

“Families in our communities need homes. We’re going to get that done,” said Greenberg.