Simon Mills won’t soon forget the fire that forced him and his family to flee for their lives.
On Aug. 17, embers from the McDougall Creek wildfire were carried by bruising winds across Okanagan Lake, to neighbourhoods in Kelowna and then, later, Lake Country, B.C.
Mills, president of Valley First, a Division of First West Credit Union, lives in the Wilden neighbourhood of Kelowna, and remembers a “wall of fire” headed toward his house.
His home was spared in the harrowing experience, but many weren’t so lucky.
There were 189 properties that were either fully or partially damaged in the hours that followed. Of those, four were in Kelowna, three in Lake Country, Westbank First Nation lost 19 properties, West Kelowna lost 69 and the regional district of the Central Okanagan saw 95 destroyed. There’s no estimate of how many homes were on each property, but in the regional district was Lake Okanagan Resort, where 150 units were lost.
Mills said his heart goes out to those who lost everything. He returned to Clifton Road days after the initial evacuation order to personally thank some first responders for their tireless efforts on the front lines and that’s where Global News caught up with him to speak about something other than financial tips.
“Now is the time to come together as a community and support each other and support the community and to navigate this ever-changing environment we find ourselves in,” Mills said.
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Mills said community has always been at the heart of everything that Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union, does and that’s why they’ve stepped up their financial support to a number of non-profit groups in the days since the fire was sparked.
“First we wanted to really help the community and get money into the hands (of those) who are really supporting the community and really helping,” he said.
Among the groups working to help the community as it suffered a devastating blow was Mamas for Mamas, a non-profit that has an emergency response program aimed at supporting families while they are out of their homes. The prime minister stopped there last week to acknowledge some of the good work being done during this crisis.
“We’ve got the food banks that are in desperate need of support and supplies to help those who have been evacuated,” Mills said, adding that support has been given to the Kamloops Food Bank, Keremeos and Cawston Food Bank and Kelowna Food Bank.
Mills said the Kelowna Gospel Mission also does “some phenomenal work down at Prosera Place.”
Mills usually is quick with financial advice but in times such as these, that’s not the priority. He does, however, think that those impacted by wildfire could find help within their financial institutions to see what may be available to help navigate their situation.
At Valley First, a division of First West Credit Union, they’ve put together a wildfire response team to handle those inquiries during this trying time
As someone who was in the thick of the crisis, however, Mills has another thought he wants to impart.
“I want to say thank you there really are no words that can express really how I feel and how grateful I am,” he said.
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