A brigade of about 20 volunteers fought off a wildfire last week in Argenta — a small town of 150 people in the Kootenays region of southeastern British Columbia — before firefighters arrived to help.
Since then, this group of citizens, strongly committed to defending their community, have been working day and night alongside the BC Wildfire Service teams to try to save their homes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in this area. There are fires everywhere,” said Louis Bockner, 34, who was born in Argenta. On July 17, a thunderstorm swept through the area, sparking more than 100 fires in the West Kootenays. “In our little valley alone, we had about 25 fires that night, at least four around Argenta.”
A sad fate, “when you live so intimately with the forest”, but one for which Argenta was prepared. “We took out our equipment and went into the field”, relates Louis, with a mixture of pride and melancholy.
About twenty years ago, Argenta set up a team of volunteers, duly certified, who undergo training every spring and whose mission is to fight the fires until reinforcements arrive.
“We are very aware that in a time like this – when there are so many fires with limited government resources – [les autorités] “They’re going to have to make decisions. And a small community like ours isn’t going to be the first place the firefighters go,” says Louis, a photojournalist who also volunteers with the brigade.
Concerted efforts
On the morning of July 18, after lightning struck the region, a team of two volunteers went on a reconnaissance mission. They observed that the fire, located near a road in the mountains, could be “attacked.”
At the same time, their colleagues were gathering information from the BC Wildfire Service and from people in the community across Kootenay Lake, which borders Argenta. “They told us they were seeing three plumes of smoke coming off the mountain.”
With that information in hand, volunteers went to fill 100-gallon tanks — about 400 liters — from a water source a mile away, then hauled them aboard three trucks up the mountain. Meanwhile, hoses were deployed near the site to pump water to the blaze.
Meanwhile, other volunteers took out their shovels to dig trenches and clear the ground of branches and leaves that could be used as fuel. And chainsaws were deployed to cut down the most threatening trees.
A rapid and concerted effort that allowed, in the space of a few hours, to control the fire. “The intention of our group is not to take over [des pompiers forestiers]”We just want to make a quick first attack when we can,” Louis says.
The brigade’s response bought the BC Wildfire Service time to deploy heavy machinery to the site. But two other blazes nearby grew larger and forced a retreat.
Evacuation
On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, the wind picked up and an evacuation notice was issued for Argenta. “It was really scary. But within two hours, we managed to alert everyone and people left the area.”
The brigade, however, remained on site. [Les pompiers] took over firefighting, while our team is more concerned with protecting homes,” by installing sprinklers or covering flammable objects, for example.
A collaboration that is “completely unique and very positive,” according to Louis. “Usually, government teams don’t work with volunteers. I think that, generally, it’s more of a headache than anything else for them,” he says.
But with their training and local knowledge, the brigade members are a valuable asset. “We know that at the top of this alley, there is someone who has a pond from which we can pump water or that at this place, there is a spring in the mountain that we can access by road. That kind of knowledge is so valuable.”
So far, no homes in the community have been destroyed by the flames. But the game is far from over. “Right now, in the best-case scenario, Argenta will be saved, but the entire forest around us will be burned.”
A real “nightmare,” Louis sighs. “Sometimes I feel overwhelmed,” he confides. “But I also feel incredibly lucky to live in this community where people help and support each other, and that was prepared for this. I feel an incredible connection with our community.”