North Peace residents banded together to protect properties from Stoddart Creek wildfire

ROSE PRAIRIE, B.C. — Despite the Stoddart Creek wildfire now being held, a Rose Prairie man says rural residents worked together to protect each other’s homes when it was first discovered.

On the weekend of May 13th and 14th, the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) focused on the Red Creek wildfire due to its proximity to a few subdivisions.

The Stoddart Creek wildfire, discovered on May 13th, is now estimated at 29,222 hectares and was classified as being held by BCWS on May 23rd. 

As of May 29th, control of the North Peace Complex was returned to the Prince George Fire Centre.

“We saw the [Stoddart Creek] fire from my place in Rose Prairie already on Saturday afternoon. We watched it get bigger and bigger and bigger,” John Stones, who used to work for a wildfire service, said.

“Then, on Facebook, we saw that they were evacuating mile 72, at Shepherd’s Inn, because the fire was right there and the winds were out of the southwest.”

As there are generally no fire departments in rural areas, Stones says residents usually try to protect their properties themselves.

“We have neighbours with pumps, water tanks, and shovels,” said Stones.

By the evening of May 13th, he says the fire had reached ranches and farms in the area.

“It’d covered 15 kilometres in a couple of hours,” Stones said.

He asked a family who lived closer to the fire’s edge if they needed help, and by 6 a.m. on May 14th, 30 people had shown up with trucks, trailers and water tanks.

“We realized pretty quick that without some aerial support, we were not gonna be able to do much there, so we pulled out of that,” Stones said.

The volunteers returned to the property line instead and constructed guards while working with the winds. A guard is a wide path or dirt road where all fuel is removed and can be achieved by hand or machinery for larger guards, also known as a control line.

“People were pulling water outta the creek and watering down the houses and the outbuildings, and everything around the houses because we still thought that fire was gonna jump and come to the farm yard,” Stones said.

At one point on the afternoon of May 14th, he estimated about 80 people were helping.

Businesses in town supplied bulldozers and gas for their efforts as well.

“Some folks from Montney came out and brought cold drinks and stuff for the people that were fighting the fires, doing the groundwork,” Stones said, “The community really pulled together for that.”

Residents saw how quickly the fire spread, so they planned accordingly.

“Safety is a priority for everybody, so we made sure everybody had an escape route already planned before they went to do anything,” Stones said.

On May 14th, he says about ten volunteer firefighters showed up in the afternoon, and helicopters started bucketing the fire.

According to Stones, BCWS crews did some backburning to remove some fuel before pulling out for the evening, but residents of the area continued late into the night.

“Monday morning, we were doing some mop up, and we had some dozers pushing a guard in from the south side of the fire up to the north,” Stones said.

Some community members were patrolling in the bush and putting out spot fires on Monday as well.

On Tuesday, May 16th, he says heavy equipment worked to join the guards from the north and south to create a control line along the fire’s east flank.

That night, Stones says some BCWS crew members came to do a backburn by helicopter, but the conditions weren’t right. Instead, about 30 to 35 residents of the area completed the backburn to the guard’s edge.

On those first few days, Stones says he saw people he hadn’t seen in ten years working side by side saving the neighbour’s place because “that’s what community is about.”

“There’s more people involved in this than just the forest service. If we had waited for [BCWS] to get here, a whole lot of this country would be burned down, and a whole bunch of people would be without houses and farms,” Stones said.

He hopes the Peace River Regional District (PRRD) will hold a meeting when the fires are under control “to work some things out.”

He says firefighters were asking residents to leave, even though some volunteers have wildfire fighting experience and know the area. 

Stones says they appreciate the help but don’t want to be pushed aside by people who don’t know them or what they can do.

“On Sunday, it was Mother’s Day. I wanted to be with my wife and my kids, but I was out fighting fires, saving the neighbour’s place,” Stones said.

“I really hope the PRRD gets something together, and we can all sit down and have a chat and work through this.”

Stones said the fires have calmed down significantly in the immediate area, and residents have mostly returned to their everyday lives.

Energeticcity.ca contacted BCWS for comment but has yet to receive a response. A further update is expected.

For the latest wildfire information, visit BCWS’ website.