May 26, 2012
Fire at Holiday Park Resort
About an hour into our move yesterday I looked down the road and was shocked to see a fire. Fire in an RV park is extremely serious due to close proximity to each other and propane tanks, lots of them! Fortunately, Walter Bulten, recently retired from the local volunteer fire department was doing some work on our beach site, I screamed for him to go check the situation. The wind had picked up and the sky was white with smoke and from here I could see flames.
As you can see we were very close to the fire.
Many of the neighbors used gardens hoses to wet down other homes and hedges to try and stop the spread of the fire. This is the back of the unit where the fire started. There are many fellows at the front using their garden hoses also. Walter made sure no one was in the RV unit then proceeded along with his helper Mike to shut down and if possible pull away propane tanks in the area. Mike found one BBQ on fire and managed to shut down the propane tank in the nick of time. These two fellows along with the residents of Holiday Park really saved the day. It was close to 35 minutes before the fire trucks arrived and the wind was pushing the flames over to the next block of homes.
It was horrifying to those watching the flames come their way. We did the best we could suggesting people water down their units, move their vehicles and golf carts. Colin managed to get a small burn on his nose from a flying cinder. Just as the wind started to die down the fire trucks showed up.
Unfortuantely it was too late for this beautiful 5th wheel. Two units behind it have been damaged and of course everyone has smoke in their homes.
So how did the fire start you might ask? Well the stupid idiot homeowner was killing weeds with a blow torch!!!!!!! It’s not like we have huge yards here to maintain. The fellow who lives at #230 even has 90% rock cover in his yard. What a way to learn a lesson!!
Holiday Park did all the right things, the power was shut down in this area, a huge tow truck was brought in to pull out any units that might be in the path of the fire and the residents banded together. Needless to say there are many frazeled nerves. One distraught lady was seen many hours later repeatedly hosing down her property on the next block, hour after hour. She was and likely still is frightened. The local Kelowna internet news has the story here plus at the bottom are 6 more photos of the after shots, just click on the numbers 1 – 6 for the photos.
So we completed our move while Walter drank my wine. He was done working for the day. We had a great sleep in the RV last night but the girls are confused and not sure where home is. Hopefully we will be able to get into a routine soon which should help them.
We have blue sky and sunshine so Colin left about 7AM for a full day of photography, might not be back till dark! Meanwhile I am awaiting Telus to come and give us telephone service. For some strange reason I have internet so I was able to do the blog today. I have lots to do both here and at the house so if I get tired of one place I can switch from unpacking to the final packing!!
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RV’s and fire – a horrible combination and so scary. Sure sounds like everybody in the park really pulled together which is wonderful. As soon as you settle so will the girls. Hope the people at your old place like dogs because they may have some visitors.
Fire! The worst thing an RV Park can experience. Thank Walter from me for being so handy. Thank your lucky stars it was down the road from you, being next door must have been teriffying. kenB
Fire anywhere is bad but and rv park with homes so close together can be a real disaster. Good thing there was plenty of people around to help and nobody was hurt.
Wow, Contessa, that is too close for comfort!
Well I guess every box needs it’s “tool”.
What a tool.
How does a guy live that long, all the while being so dim?
Figures too that he managed to torch someone else’s RV. I’m sure there will be some further discussions among the various insurance companies. Not to mention the chance of a civil action. Yikes.
Whow!! Very scary!! Hope that guy get,s a fine and has to make a huge donation to the fire dept.. All the resident,s did the right thing or it would of been a worse disaster!! Where were the owner,s??
We all dread the idea of a fire in an RV park! We experienced one in Mesa, AZ once when the fridge in a MH across from us caught fire at 2:00 AM and gutted the very expensive diesel pusher. By luck there was a retired fireman there as well who took charge and with a lot of help from neighbors, limited the damage to just the one unit. It was very scary, just as your experience was.