Golden, B.C., residents recount ‘harrowing’ wildfire experience

B.C. resident Stewart Eldridge felt like he was in a war zone. 

Eldridge, who lives just outside of Golden in the Kootenay region, works for an Airbnb property management company. On Wednesday, he had just started eating dinner when he received a text requesting he help his boss with fire preparation at one of the company’s units located south of the town. Within 15 minutes of being there, he saw the advancing Dogtooth FSR wildfire. 

“We literally watched the entire mountainside just lit on fire,” he told CBC’s Radio West. 

As they fled, Eldridge said the heat felt like it was climbing five degrees every five minutes. He now considers himself lucky that his truck’s tires didn’t melt into the asphalt. 

Still, Eldridge and his boss decided to stop and help a horse get off a field as they drove through Parson, a community around 35 kilometres south of Golden. But the fire was hot on their track and quickly reached the same field. 

It also jumped Highway 95. 

“[Firefighters] were screaming at us, they were like ‘evacuate now, evacuate now!'” Eldridge said. “I’ve never been through anything like that in my life.” 

Discovered on July 22, the Dogtooth blaze is one of five wildfires in the province that are highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS). It’s suspected to have been caused by lightning and measured 54.45 square kilometres as of Thursday evening. 

On Wednesday night, the fire forced authorities to evacuate around 100 properties south of Golden and closed the highway in both directions between the town and Radium Hot Springs. 

The fire also destroyed six homes near the town, according to Golden Mayor Ron Oszust.

“It was like Armageddon,” said Brian Harris, fire chief of Nicholson, a community around seven kilometres south of the town. His department was responding to the blaze. “The sky was just black. The winds were howling.”

Since then, local officials said the conditions have improved thanks to some rain and cooling weather. 

By Thursday afternoon, Golden had downgraded the evacuation order for some properties on the east side of Highway 95 to an alert. The highway has also reopened. 

“We’re pleased with the change of weather to help us with this fire,” Karen Cathcart told CBC’s Radio West. She’s the director of Electoral Area A, which covers the rural area surrounding Golden. 

The evacuation order continues for certain properties on the west side of the highway. In Parson, for instance, 28 properties are still under an evacuation order, according to Cathcart.

A long list of properties also remain on alert. 

Sarah Osadetz, a Golden resident who is under the alert, said she was watching the fire from the outskirts of town Wednesday night. At first, she said she felt a sense of denial but then the dread set in. Since then, she has parlayed that anxiety into packing her belongings as well as encouraging dozens of others to also be prepared. 

“I’ve been canvassing, going to different places, saying ‘Are you packed? What are you doing? Where are you planning on going?” Osadetz said. 

“I’m really going to take it day by day.”

Eldridge similarly highlighted this sense of community as he witnessed residents helping each other and animals Wednesday night, adding that he later learned the horse he tried to help is safe.

He called this camaraderie a “bright spot” amid a scary experience that didn’t fully hit him until after he got home. 

“I definitely had a cry last night,” Eldridge said. “I hugged my dog.”