Comox Fire Rescue firefighter Elsa Gilroy has seen people lose everything in a fire, and this past summer, her wildfire crew experienced firsthand a small part of that loss.
Gilroy, a full-time lieutenant at the department, has been with Comox Fire Rescue since 2012, and has been involved in wildfire deployments across the province for several years, both in structural protection and structural defence.
This year, she deployed to Fort St. John, Houston and the North Shuswap on Aug. 17.
One day after arriving, Gilroy says winds picked up in the area, and a fire ran through the town of Scotch Creek where her crew was working, eventually making them take refuge at Shuswap Lake Provincial Park.
鈥淥nce the fire passed through, we led the crew on a tactical evacuation through the town towards Kamloops. After this, we briefed the crew on our camp burning down.鈥�
Gilroy explains while the team felt disappointment from losing only a tent worth of possessions, they appreciated the perspective it gave them.
鈥淚f we were disappointed about our few items, imagine what the locals felt losing everything?鈥�
When the crew arrived at the location of their new temporary camp, the parking lot had a pile of garbage bags full of belongings from firefighter鈥檚 tents.
She noted that the administration staff must have run through the camp, saving as much as possible before the fire passed through, and the crew was very grateful.
鈥淚 am thankful for the extensive training we consistently receive from our home departments in Comox and Oyster River, who prepared us to calmly manage this situation and stick together as a team, despite being trapped in heavy fire behavior and ember showers.鈥�
Gilroy has been through a few emergency withdrawals in her firefighting career, once in Anahim Lake and another time during the July Mountain fire in 2021. She adds having someone else make the decisions and following a leader seemed simple, however, this time felt slightly different as it was her responsibility to keep the people she cared about safe.
Despite the incident, she says she will continue to participate in wildfire firefighting when required.
鈥溾�his is all apart of it and even though we had some challenges to deal with, we helped in a small way, we learned, gained experience and came home safe.鈥�
