The summer of 2015 is one to go on the record books for wild fires in the Oliver area.

In the early 1970’s, each summer, we had a number wild fires. There was one that was very large, started from north of the old Fairview town site and burned to the area several kilometers west of the White Lake Observatory, a great distance but not for a windy afternoon.

I fought that fire, one of many Oliver young men to be hired by the Forest Service to man the fire guards. That was when my good friend Bob Campbell was killed in an auto crash at Haynes Point.

The Forest Service gave everyone time off to attend the funeral, but all were expected to return to their duties on the fire line ; to my knowledge everyone did.

There wasn’t much work involved in watching the fire line. The line was established once the Caterpillars cleared a wide dirt boundary between the unburned ground and the burned ground.

My job was to make sure the fire didn’t cross the guard. We were armed with a shovel or a pulaski which is a two side tool ; has an ax on one side and a narrow hoe on the other.

My section to watch was on the south side of the fire, the wind blew north, there was no chance of the fire coming back upon me. Sometimes the wind will change and blow the fire back across the fire guard which puts lives in peril, for no man can out run a speeding fire.

All the hot spots were long dead ; the man power was there just in case.

There were hero’s that fought that fire. The Glufke brothers and Tony Kamin helped save the University of British Columbia’s Geology Camp. They happened to be in the area when the fire tore through. The boys put out spot fires.

The wind pushed the fire through the tree tops by a method called crowning. From crowning the fire rained down upon the ground below igniting spot fires which spread.

Where there weren’t trees, the fire raced across the ground burning everything in it’s path. In tinder dry conditions bushes exploded raining sparks everywhere.

Reaching a tree, the flames raced up to the top, the wind blew the sparks afield. The tree top next door caught fire and the crowning began again in earnest.

That is why a wild fire cannot be stopped in the afternoon during the heat of the day. Even during the cool of the evening a large fire will create its own wind. Everyone hopes the wind will change direction and the fire will burn back into itself.

The Observatory was never in any danger. The wind died down in the evening and allowed a fire guard to be pushed through stopping the fire’s advancement. It took a few days for the guard to be completely pushed around the fire.

All that was left was the mop up. Forestry crews walked through the burnt area and extinguished all smoking remnants.

I have been unable to discover today’s standard for determining when a wild fire is to be declared out. It used to be that after the last remnant was extinguished, there could be no more embers for 30 days, then the fire was officially declared out.

Surely there is someone who reads this column who is more knowledgeable than I and could tell us all when a fire is officially out?

In the ’70’s there were fewer homes built in the bush so personal property loss wouldn’t have been as great as it will be today; that is the worst part of today’s fires. I can’t imagine the loss of one’s home.

My prayer is that good judgement will prevail and that everyone will be safe.

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