Dear editor:
As a business owner and resident in the Lower Similkameen Valley, I wanted to thank your community and the Quesnel Fire Department for sending down some of your personnel and equipment to help fight the Crater Creek wildfire outside of Keremeos over the last week.
Although it didn’t make the news like the West Kelowna or Shuswap wildfires have, it was still a very significant fire that threatened homes, cabins, sacred sites, and plenty of recreational areas that folks in our area are deeply attached to.
Today, I had the pleasure of meeting four members of the QFD, who had just been released from our fire and who wanted to see a little of our community before they return home tomorrow. We were happy to give them a tour of our heritage site (which is a sister site to your own Cottonwood House Historic Site, by the way), and we expressed to them how much we appreciate the generous spirit of mutual aid that exists across our province at times like these, and how willing skilled emergency personnel are to travel halfway across the province to help.
Whether wildfires or floods, heat domes or pandemics, the resilience of our communities—and our province—is led by the strength and kindness of all those who put themselves in harm’s way on behalf of the rest of us. Thank you to all those who work in Emergency Services and, specifically today, to the Quesnel Fire Department.
Chris Mathieson
Grist Mill Heritage Site operator and manager
READ MORE: Crater Creek wildfire sees no new growth but evacuations remain
To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.
<>Don’t miss a single story and get them delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up today for the Penticton Western News Newsletter.
<>@PentictonNews
newstips@pentictonwesternnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.