A local family recently played a huge role in extinguishing a fire at Second Bridge, but left frustrated and bewildered by the lack of people around them.
鈥淚 was really disheartened,鈥� Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation member Timmy Masso told the Westerly News. 鈥淚t was really sad to see the lack of support.鈥�
Masso was heading to work with his parents at Canoe Creek on June 5 when they saw posts on Facebook suggesting Second Bridge at Kennedy Lake was on fire.
He said he always carries water cans with him in case he comes across any campfires, so they headed out to see if they could help.
鈥淣one of us really knew what was going on,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e realized that we had to go out there and make sure everything was OK. We didn鈥檛 know who was out there or if there were people fighting it or not.鈥�
The bridge and the road leading up to it have long been deactivated, so they hiked into the area and found several members of Tla-o-qui-aht Fisheries working to prevent the fire from spreading onto shore on the other side of the bridge.
Masso called his brother Hjalmer Wenstob who arrived with his wife Annika and their two children to help out, though Wenstob told the Westerly he was not expecting to arrive at such an intense situation.
鈥淲hen I got the call from them, I went out to join them just to bring some more buckets and fire extinguishers and whatever we had around the house to go see what was going on, assuming the fire wasn鈥檛 as big as it was,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we got there, the entire bridge from one side to the other was burning and it was burning very hot and very fast.鈥�
Wenstob said about five Tla-o-qui-aht Fisheries members kept battling the blaze on the other side of the bridge, which is connected to land, while he and his family did their best on their side, which ends about 20 feet offshore.
鈥淚t was pretty obvious pretty quick that we didn鈥檛 have enough resources,鈥� he said. 鈥淣one of us are firefighters. None of us are trained as firefighters. We just saw a post on Facebook and decided to go out and offer help鈥here was more resources from the local area? Where was more resources from everyone?鈥�
Masso then headed into Ucluelet for more supplies, picking up his boat as well as a water pump donated by the Ukee Rent It Centre, which he was very grateful to receive.
鈥淲e were able to get the fire out, but it was more a spur of the moment thing. We just saw it on Facebook and didn鈥檛 know who was out there or what was going on, so we ran out because we assumed that whoever was out there probably needed some help,鈥� Masso said.
His mom Jessie Masso said the West Coast is 鈥渟uper lucky we don鈥檛 have a fire right now鈥� adding that she was surprised to see chatter on social media about the situation, but little action being taken.
鈥淲hen we grew up, when something happened we all went to help and time鈥檚 have changed now,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 a fire, it used to be that everybody would grab their hose and a bucket and put the fire out, but now it鈥檚 not like that. Everyone thinks there鈥檚 some official that鈥檚 doing it.
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e come to a place where we just turn an eye and think there鈥檚 somebody professional out there who鈥檚 doing all the work and that鈥檚 not always the case. We went there to help. We didn鈥檛 know we鈥檇 be the ones doing it. We went there to help put it out.鈥�
andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca
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