The Quesnel couple behind a new monument honouring 2017 wildfire volunteers in Kamloops say they know what goes through the mind of many evacuees.
Lee-Anne Chisholm and Aaron Harder recall how they got a phone call from Chisholm’s parents that a fire had started near their house.
“The beginning of the wildfire season in 2017, our family property was hit really hard,” she recalled. “A lot of destruction and we were there right in the middle of it.”
Chisolm added her family and their neighbours had a few minutes to evacuate.
“To see the power of a wildfire like that and to really feel how much that could leave people feeling hopeless if not for the volunteers,” she added.
“We had so many people coming and helping us and yeah, we felt a really big connection to creating a piece of art that represents that.”
She added while most of her parent’s property was destroyed by the wildfire, the family’s home remained standing.
The monument, they say, represents the evacuees and how they are lifted up by the volunteers.