Aug 22:

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11:40pm

• Archers and Menhenicks have gone back into to GC with an "army" of locals.  "Structures standing"

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11:15pm

• Winds gusting up to 13 km/hr from SE

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10:15pm

• Ken, Ray, and Julie evacuating from Gun Creek

• Will update when they reach town safely.

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9:45pm

• Ken, Ray, and Julie evacuating from Gun Creek

• Will update when they reach town safely.

• As we understand it Incident Command doesn't want people on road between Gun Creek fire camp and Gold Bridge so they may end up there.

• Bob and Kyle are safe at Gun Creek Fire Camp and are staying over night.

• We have put in an inquiry about whether the Menhenicks evacuated with Archers.

• New Video posted

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9:00pm

• Just heard from the McKenzie's, they are safe at their place

• Tarn just returned from the lake and started pumps

• Video and images posted below

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8:40pm

• Bob and Kyle are still at the fire camp they are waiting for a bigger group to depart

• From this point forward this evening the website will be reporting on the safety of our people getting out and not about fire behaviour or situation on the ground as we no longer have people to give first hand accounts 

• We remain hopeful that the work that the community has done to prepare for the fire as well as all the incredible efforts of the BC Wildfire Service that we see limited damage in our area

• Send positive vibes

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8:20pm - REPORT FROM BOB AND KYLE

• Wind holding on the hill coming towards fire camp, no more than 2km away 

• Fire is moving down near Gun Creek Road

• Fire has jumped Tyaughton Lake Road and is burning north

• Structural protection was given 10min to evac and got as many pumps going as they could

• Bob and Kyle assisted in this effort in full conjunction with the incident commander 

• Bob and Kyle are leaving the area, heading to Lillooet

• Road to Gold Bridge is compromised, will report to us when they are safe 

• Fire is heading towards the fire camp from two different directions 

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8:00pm - REPORT FROM BOB AND KYLE

• Bob and Kyle are safe and at Fire Camp waiting for briefing.  They check for John before they left lake but he was not at his property

  • 6:45, Tuesday

  • Fire has jumped lower guard and is burning north eastwards, through Gun Creek road with wind, it’s getting aggressive rank 4 or higher

  • 7:10, fire spotted north of Tyaughton Lake road, 100 yards up the hill from where I was 45 min ago, it’s going to climb the microwave tower hill.  This is the one that is at the top of the road if you go left at Y on back road.

  • By 7:30, it’s on top of the microwave, slightly on the west side of double ridge. 

  • 7:50 Kyle and Bob go to Gun Creek fire camp, whitecaps on Carpenter Lake. Road by Gold Bridge is threatened.

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7:30pm

• Report from someone working the fire, "It is not looking good out there today. Fire jumped our guard as we were building it today. They suspect in the next few hours it will track Tyaughton road."

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5:15 pm

• Bob and Kyle pulling out and going to fire camp for safety reasons

• winds - 5Km from South, gusting to 20Km

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4:50pm

• Heard from Gold Bridge.  Winds picking up out of the South.

• video in video section

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Admin Update:

• Unfortunately Geoff P from Gun Creek Rd who volunteered to join the Tyaughton Fire Department is not going to be joining our team on the ground Kyle and Bob.  He checked in with incident command and they do not want anymore of us to be involved at this time.  We have committed to follow the direction of incident command so we will honour their wishes.  Bob and Kyle will hold down the fort with The McKenzie's leading the way.

• Tarn did a half a day of tree falling for Gold Bridge today, the fire is creeping towards them as well.

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4:40pm

• Machine Fire guards put in behind mowson towards gun creek rd along & below the road and other machine guards going in or gone in above and at the old ball field area and up the FSR. So basically crossing the road and up the mountain at the top of the hill after the 10 mile corner before you drop down to drive past places on tyaughton lake. (See Map posted yesterday in Maps section.

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4:30pm

• Kyle at the lake now light wind (5-10Km from South) very little smoke, Tarn has connected with Bob.  Kyle now doing fire safing around cabins on West side. 

• Team now has WIFI Satellite communication at South End of the Lake, and two on the West side.

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East Update:

• Getting some conflicting information

• Incident Commander said that they are deliberating about the East Side due to safety, but also because of the proximity of the fire and they want the West Side completely done first.

• SP on the ground said they are going to do it but not today, they are also waiting on okay to use boats.  Tarn is coordinating with that.

• Best we can hope for I think is that they do it tomorrow.

• Tarn will run all the East Side pumps again tonight.

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​4:15pm

• Winds are picking up from South

• Fire Crews are expecting winds to 40Km/hr this afternoon

• The SP Units were not done West side yesterday as was reported, they had finished laying the hoses and Sprinklers on structures but this morning pumps and hoses were laid to the systems that had been set-up.  They were at Gus Rd on at 2:00pm

• They are running and testing sprinklers 

• Then they are going to go through west side and fireproof around the houses/cabins, removing combustibles.

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3:05pm

• Kyle at fire camp checked in headed to meet bob…..wind blow east down at carpenter active fire all along hwy 40 from goldbridge to camp will check in shortly from the lake.

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2:30pm

• No Wind

• Visability not great

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9:30am

• Bob arrived last night at 10:30

• Pictures will be added below but the good news is that they don't show much fire! Wasn't even visible from Mowson Pond.

• As Tarn had reported the fire was very calm last night.

•  Bob has been up to "screwball" for 1 Km - fire not apparent

• He checked in with John and he is good

• He checked in with our rockstar incident commander.

• West side is entirely sprinklered, they are going to run and test again this morning

• This is where it gets a bit tough - but please know my (Sue) cabin is on the East side, as is Jim's, so know that we have already begun advocating.  They are trying to determine what to do with the East side - it seems they have not received clearance for the boats, and they are concerned about getting trapped in there should the fire kick up.

  • We are advocating for the boats as the first solution, get everyone done in order South to North, in order of danger.​

  • If they will not do boats and will not go in with vehicles we will ask that they give us some fire pumps to trade out the pumps that already exist which only go for 1-2 hours where fire pumps go for seven hours and are far more reliable (for those that are concerned that I am advocating for myself since I have a system laid out, I have pump redundancy and my pump runs for 24 hours, so I would prefer my pump over theirs in many ways).  I am advocating for people who have spent thousands of dollars and dozens of hours prepping their places and only need a pump that runs longer to give it a relatively equal chance as the West Side.  If you watch the video below that speaks about how they triage properties it will give some clarity.

  • We are going to advocate for those properties - every last one of them

  • If they go with last solution, I propose that those of us who have our structural protection certification will go up, borrow more equipment from BCWF and set up the rest of the places, going South to North.

• Kyle M is on his way up to lake now as a representative for us, he is one of the most experienced people we have as he was a firefighter for years, has all current certs and has committed as much time as it takes.

• Also Geoff P, former Whistler Fire Chief, and lifelong firefighter has also joined the Tyaughton Fire Crew and will be there looking out for us and helping us.  He is still part of the fire service so he may not be to go on the East side if they have declared it a hazard but he will still be invaluable

• Sidenote:  We will be seeking permission to clean up an escape route for East Tyaughton once this passes...

• The only people that we can have at the lake going forward are people that have certification.  We understand that people have skills and experiences but we are trying to play within the lines and it has certainly worked for us thus far.

• If you have "important things" that you would really want done - "if I only had moved my ATV closer to cabin so if would be in the sprinkler range, should have cut that tree down (nothing too big please), if only...."  Please send me an email and as the fire allows we will try to ramp up our team there with proper training to get to these things."  No promises but we will put it on the list.

• The fire is stable this morning

• barely a breeze from the south

• Visibility is not great in GB right now.

• Bob is at another meeting and will send an update when we recieve.

• Work calls for me today personally I will be in and out of meetings and have a product launch this afternoon, so please understand if I don't respond to texts and emails until this evening.  That does not mean I won't read them and pass them onto relevant people.

• Jim Blair has come out of retirement and has a new career in communications and web design.  He'll be doing most the posts today, as he did yesterday afternoon and evening.  Patience with titles on pictures etc :)

• Overall things are positive, there is a hiccup on the East side but we will fix it!

• Keep sending the positive vibes, because something is working, the forecasted wind and bad weather has not materialized - knocking on wood.

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Overnight

• The Last report that we received last night was just before 11pm

• Only a couple kms North of Tyaughton the sky was clear and it was a beautiful star filled night.

• The lake at 10pm was calm and the air was almost entirely clear.

• A trip down Gun Creek Rd revealed what looked like "a bunch of campfires" instead of the wall of flames from the night before.

• Machine operators working on the guard said the progress was good though it was difficult to report anything as other than knowing what they were doing they couldn't see more than 100m.

• The McKenzie Clan are the guardian angels of the lake.  When the BCWF service is mandated to leave, no night watch they entered the scene and in Tarns words "I pulled every cord I could find." We collectively owe that family a great debt already, they as a group have single handedly been manning the pumps, climbing on roofs to unclog sprinklers, conducting small engine repair, watching over the lake, and assisting at Gun Creek Rd - all the while keeping their animals safe and managing their farm...    They are the true heroes of Tyaughton.

• While they had intended to do both sides of the lake yesterday they were only able to finish the West Side and South end - that they fully completed the West side is not fully confirmed.

• Pictures posted last night are mostly from the East side and only cabins that have their own systems.

• Will be posting satellite pictures shortly that indicate that the fire may have made very little progress on our front in the last 24 hours.

• John Anderson was well when Doug left around 3pm yesterday.  He had Doug's camper at the Gun Creek Fire Camp, however since the air cleared up substantially in the evening I suspect John is back at the lake.  Bob is aware and is supposed to be finding him so that they can look after each other.

• Bob has also committed to sleeping at the fire camp.

• Unless Bob connects, our reports will only be about wind, pictures from afar, and satellite images.

• Tarn also sends in pictures and updates when he can but his priorities is saving their farm, and as much of the valley that is possible by three incredible individuals.

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8:00am

• Update pending.  Waiting for Bob Hornal to report back.