Lyonel Doherty

Times-Chronicle Staff

A couple of Shrike Hill residents are expressing concerns of abandonment during the Nk’Mip Creek fire.

Mary Ann Oborowsky (Porcupine Place) and Mason Schmidt (McCuddy Creek Road) have been evacuated from the rural community east of Oliver.

Schmidt and Oborowsky watched the fire encroach on their hamlet; at one point it was only one kilometre away.

“We were all flying into a panic trying to get all the animals out of there,” Schmidt said, referring to their livestock.

Oborowsky has donkeys and miniature horses, and one neighbour has a pig sanctuary.

Schmidt said everything appeared safe on Wednesday, but a lack of information from fire officials concerns him.

BC Wildfire previously reported they managed to hold the fire line on Shrike Hill and set up structural protection units (sprinklers) on individual properties.

Oborowsky expressed her concern about looters in the area, saying that one was caught with stolen property.

But Sgt. Don Wrigglesworth from the Oliver RCMP said they’ve had zero reports of looters in the Shrike Hill area.

“We are continuing roving patrols 24 hours and stopping anyone that is in the fire zone. I was there until midnight personally.”

Schmidt said one of his neighbours, a former firefighter, refused to leave and continues to protect his home on the hill.

“He’s like a guard dog of the community. He chased away 10 cars on Monday night; they came to loot one hour after the (evacuation) order went out.”

Schmidt explained that local homeowners all had sprinklers on their roofs, but they became inactive when the power was cut off. But the power was subsequently restored.

Schmidt said that wildfire crews left the area and took all of their equipment with them.

Oborowsky said a structural protection crew consisting of three young men with a pickaxe told them to leave the area immediately. She asked if they could help load her 200-pound dog during the evacuation.

“They left so fast they beat me to the bottom of the hill. They left me, they said no, you’re on your own.”

According to Schmidt, he observed a neighbour’s home that was “completely flattened” by the fire.

Oborowsky feels that Shrike Hill has been left out of the mix.

“They just focused on Osoyoos. The fire came down Spirit Ridge but it came down our ridge (too), right in front of our houses.”

The Times-Chronicle contacted BC Wildfire twice regarding Shrike Hill operations, but no update was given.

“We don’t have big golf clubs sitting outside our places, we have pigs, goats and donkeys,” Oborowsky said.

“And we grow our own food,” Schmidt added.

“The most help we’ve gotten from anybody has just been each other. The only person there right now fighting the fire is one of our neighbours,” he noted.

Schmidt did acknowledge the “amazing job” that firefighters are doing in protecting Oliver and Osoyoos.

“The firefighters have done the best they can, but they are stretched thin.”

Oborowsky said she would have liked to have seen more water and retardant used in their neighbourhood.

Schmidt said the government should be doing more to help small, rural communities like Shrike Hill prepare for fires. He noted that neighbours went out of their way last year to attend a day-long fire protection course in Willowbrook.

Oborowsky said Shrike Hill inhabitants are not weird people.

“We pay lots of taxes . . . we’re out there and we’re on fire.”