Annick deGooyer knew that her family's home of more than 20 years had been destroyed by the McDougall Creek wildfire that consumed scores of properties in West Kelowna, B.C., about three weeks ago.
But she expected more to remain than the pile of"ashy dust" atop the foundations that she and her firefighter husband Rob Baker viewed last Friday while on a bus tour of the devastated neighbourhood of Trader's Cove, on the west side of Okanagan Lake.The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre has been taking homeowners on the bus trips since last week, allowing residents to see the ruin of their homes firsthand.
The operations centre said only residents whose properties have been destroyed or are uninhabitable are being invited on the tours. Participants were not allowed off the bus, and as it inched toward her property, deGooyer peered from her seat to see what was left. To witness the destruction firsthand was sad and overwhelming, she said.
"They have worked so hard on the infrastructure and cleaning things up. We had two really big pine trees next to our house and they have already been cut down. They have done such an amazing job of cleaning everything up," said deGooyer. "I had an idea of what I was going to find. I think that made it a little easier for me. So, I wasn't completely shocked, but it was still difficult," said Fuhr, adding that the home's destruction was"complete."
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