For several weeks in July, flames threatened residents of the New Denver and Silverton areas from all sides.
The sky and landscape were choked with an eerie mix of smoke and heat that had some residents using the word "apocalyptic."
The fires at Komonko Creek, Aylwin Creek and Ponderosa blazed above and below Highway 6, while residents helplessly watched the Nemo Creek fire burn through Valhalla Provincial Park across Slocan Lake. Highway 6 was eventually closed because of fire danger.
On July 20 the entire community of Silverton was evacuated as along with some adjacent rural areas, and a week later, residents of the Village of Slocan were also ordered out.
New Denver, with Wilson Creek also evacuated just to the North, was the only population hub still publicly accessible. Things were happening so fast that when firefighters arrived to set up a base in New Denver, it was not clear where they were going to eat. So a group of locals at the Fireweed Hub set up a kitchen and fed firefighters and evacuees from other communities.
At the same time, the Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative’s set up a Resiliency Centre in Appledale to serve evacuees.
Life under evacuation was complicated. Some residents had a business or employment in one community and their home in another, with a closed highway between the two.
For businesses in the Slocan Valley, summer tourism season is key, and many of them lost large portions of their usual summer revenue. Community Futures Central Kootenay set up a system of support for businesses affected by wildfires in the valley and in the Argenta area.
They offered low-interest loans of up to $20,000 with payments deferred up to six months. For a short while after the fires they offered free 30-minute business counselling session and free temporary office space.
Silverton village councillor Danika Hammond advanced ideas about how the tourism business community should find ways of marketing their products to the shoulder seasons in addition to relying entirely on mid-summer business.
On the east side of Kootenay Lake, Argenta and Johnsons Landing were evacuated because of the Argenta Creek fire, part of a complex of fires in the lower Duncan Lake area.
Members of Argenta's fire brigade, also known as the Argenta Safety and Preparedness Society (ASAP), stayed behind to help with the evacuation and assisted firefighters in protecting the community.
The group, which has advanced equipment and members well versed in forestry and fire-fighting, had been training for 20 years in anticipation of this possibility. They worked so effectively that BC Wildfire Service that the provincial government announced in September it intends to implement its training and self-help model across the province.
