It is just one page long but, for residents of Pressy Lake, it’s no doubt a document that’s sure to raise questions.
The handwritten note titled “Pressy Lake Assessment” appears to be a laundry list of needs for the tiny Thompson-Nicola community, which was threatened by the raging Elephant Hill wildfire at the time.
WATCH: Residents of B.C. town burned by forest fires frustrated about lack of information
The note, dated Aug. 7, broke down the community into five areas.
The equipment requested was for fire protection: 156 sprinklers, 8 pumps, thousands of feet of line. Additional sprinklers would also be needed to protect outbuildings.
Unfortunately, none of it actually made it in time to protect properties in Pressy Lake.
The one-page-long document was released to Global News, following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request focused on Pressy Lake. Here’s the document:
More than 500 pages were released in total, some with significant redactions. The documents included handwritten notes from ground crews, weather reports and structure protection summaries, among others.
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The tiny community suffered significant damage when the Elephant Hill wildfire tore through between Aug. 11 and 12.
In an email to Global News, the BC Wildfire Service said there wasn’t enough time to set up the sprinklers.
“No, the sprinklers and pumps listed in the handwritten assessment for Pressy Lake were not set up in the community as the fire progressed rapidly towards Pressy Lake and this equipment could not safely be deployed,” the email said.
However, residents had already been told to leave town on July 29, nearly two weeks before the fire hit. The handwritten note carried a date that was about four days before Pressy Lake was ravaged by fire.
Structure Protection Summaries listed the equipment requested and deployed to protect other nearby communities, however Pressy Lake wasn’t listed among them.
When asked why, the BC Wildfire Service said,”the Structure Protection staff were actively engaged on communities that were in closer proximity to the Elephant Hill fire.”
Questions from ground crews
Many of the documents released included photocopied pages of notebooks from incident commanders.
In one of the notebooks, a question was posed: “Do we want to protect south side of Boneaparte Road from North Green Lake Road to Pressy Lake.”
When asked, the BC Wildfire service says they had every intention of protecting the community.
“There were multiple communities threatened at any given time during the Elephant Hill fire and as mentioned Pressy Lake was triaged by a structure protection specialist on August 8th with the intention that it would have structure protection equipment deployed on it if the fire progressed towards it,” the email reads.
TNRD applies pressure to allow residents to re-enter
By Aug. 18, residents knew — unofficially — what had happened in their community and began seeking answers.
“Pressure from TNRD to let people into Loon Lake and Pressy Lake areas,” a handwritten note from August 18 reads.
Another note from that date reiterated the point: “Pressy Lake, TNRD pressuring us to get people in.”
Residents eventually were allowed to re-enter their community, but questions have lingered in the weeks and months since.
READ MORE: Pressy Lake residents want to know why more wasn’t done to protect them from wildfire
Chief among them: why wasn’t more done to save Pressy Lake when it appeared there was enough time to prepare and execute a plan?
An email from the B.C. Wildfire Service will only state the fire progressed quickly.
“Unfortunately the fire progressed with extreme fire behaviour and smoke which made it unsafe to deploy personnel into the Pressy Lake community.”
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