'My band – they're resilient': B.C. First Nation loses 31 homes to Bush Creek East wildfire

Update: On Saturday, Aug. 26, Skwlax te Secwepemculecw communications co-ordinator Larry Read said the total number of structures lost is now 85. 13 structures were also partially damaged, and a remaining 139 structures were unscathed.

The original story follows below:

Skwlax te Secwepemculecw Kukpi7 James Tomma watched showers of embers fall as the Bush Creek East wildfire tore though the community's territory in B.C.'s Shuswap region. Standing next to his brothers at a news conference Friday, Tomma compared the blaze to a warzone.

“We were thinking this might be it,” he told reporters Friday. “We came to peace with that.”

The BC Wildfire Service described the Bush Creek fire as one of the most aggressive it’s observed over the last decade, the fire running 20 kilometres in just 12 hours. On Friday, officials with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District announced the wildfire had destroyed or damaged at least 168 structures. Thirty-one homes in the Skwlax te Secwepemculecw First Nation were lost during the fire, including Tomma’s. 

“We lost a lot,” he said. “Thirty-one houses, I think, was the latest count. It could climb. The task set out before us is daunting, but it also shows the community spirit.”

According to Indigenous Services Canada, there are eight First Nations in B.C. under evacuation orders and 14 under evacuation alerts.

The Assembly of First Nations is calling for more supports from all levels of government to address the wildfire fight in B.C. and in the Northwest Territories. Regional Chief Terry Teegee with the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations said for many Indigenous communities, the rebuilding process after these tragedies needs to be met with more urgency.

“I think it speaks to the administrative and bureaucratic nightmare that many First Nations experience when they’re building back after disaster,” he said. “Provincially and federally, there is a bureaucratic nightmare in terms of getting the funding properly to their communities or getting the right, I suppose, the beurocracy out of the way, so you can do the work that you need to do."

At Friday’s briefing, public information officers with the CSRD said members of Canada Task Force 1 will continue to assess damage to structures in the region.

Tomma said over the next few weeks, band members will be able to tour the territory.

"My band – they're resilient,” he said. “We know that my people have gone through a lot and are still here and we'll be still here."