We, residents of the upper Elson Road area, would like to say a very special thank you to all the fire service personal who attended our Sorrento community in the active fire zone.
If it wasn’t for the hard work, perseverance and bravery of the fire service that came to the aid of our community, many of our homes would possibly be gone.
To all the firefighter families, you have amazing people in your life, thank you for supporting them.
We would also like to give a very special thank you to all the people in our beautiful community who, out of the kindness of their hearts, provided so much support in the way of food, fuel, pumps, hoses, chainsaws and various other equipment, and to private individuals who brought us the so precious water we needed. Your heartfelt labour of love will be remembered long after this fire.
To the people who joined our fire lines, your efforts are special because of your sweat and willingness to put yourself in harm’s way. This coming together shows how great our human spirits are.
Thank you again for your kindness and love in our hour/days of need.
Fires appeared in our community Friday evening, Aug. 18. By early Saturday morning, homeowners and community members were mobilizing to fight the fire with resources on our properties. Various firefighter services started arriving in force and were actively engaged in defending our homes. In some cases, fires were less than 100 feet from structures. As the hours moved along, water tankers were supplied to locals to help facilitate our firefighting efforts.
Long hours and extraordinary efforts by firefighters, structural protection teams, local residents and dozens of volunteers, turned into days, and by Tuesday things were more or less under control.
Suppression efforts and monitoring continue as we write this (10:30 a.m., Friday, Aug. 25) from within the active fire zone. The general consensus is that things are stable, suppression is active and we are watchful.
Our hearts go out to all those who have been ravaged by this fire. In coming weeks and months, we will help support however we can.
Below is a list of fire protection services from different regions who attended our community and the surrounding area. Please thank them for their service. They deserve some serious rest and relaxation: Metchosin, Courtney, Comox, Big White, North Cedar Lake, Cowichan, Gabriola, Sicamous, Gibsons, Smithers, Cowichan Bay, Hayes Creek, Erris, Miocene, Cranberry, Anarchist Mountain., Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Abbotsford, RDEK, Pritchard, Shuswap Structural protection teams from Osprey.
Simon Schosser
and residents of Elson Road
Read more: North Shuswap firefighter unwavering after losing home, fire hall to wildfire
Read more: BC Hydro mobilizing crews to restore power in the Shuswap
newsroom@saobserver.net
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