Tami Dalpadado was hopeful the extreme wildfire risk had passed when she drove from her farm property near Boston Bar to Hope on Tuesday afternoon to buy livestock feed. But when she and her husband drove back toward their home, they found Highway 1 closed, and learned a new evacuation order had been issued for the area. “There was nothing when we left, and this thing just blew up while we were gone,” said Dalpadado. “We sat and waited for a little bit, and just decided to head back to Hope and go there a different way.” When they got to their 100-acre property, they had just minutes to turn on sprinklers, grab their pets and let their farm animals out of their pens. “By the time I got the dogs into the car, the fire was probably not even 500 yards away. I just opened the gate, let the lambs go. Simba, my oldest livestock guardian dog, he just ran. He wouldn’t come near us, he was too freaked out,” said Dalpadado. Heartbroken and terrified, the couple had to leave Simba and their sheep behind. “To look up when you’re trying to get your animals and you see that fire so close and you’re just like, run babies, run,” she said. As they drove toward Surrey, the couple watched a real-time feed of the wildfire approaching their property on their doorbell camera. “My God, it was horrific,” Dalpadado said. “You see the fire coming up behind the chicken coops. You could see one completely flare up and burn. And that was the little turkeys house.” They watched helplessly as other outbuildings, vehicles and machinery burned. By early morning, the flames had eased and they saw a structure protection team walking on their property with buckets of water, calling to their dog Simba. “They’re doing a great job if you ask me. They’re really trying to save someone’s home. They have been through it themselves—some of them are from Lytton—so we know their hearts are in it,” she said. The camera was pointed away from their beloved farmhouse, so they had no idea of its fate when the doorbell camera feed cut out at 5 a.m. “We thought of it as our place to retire and do what we wanted to do,” Dalpadado said. Early Wednesday afternoon, they got word their home was still standing, and their animals safe. It was a welcome bit of good news for Dalpadado, who lost her 23-year-old son Lusion to cancer two years ago. “It was one of his favourite places to come,” she said. “I just hope that whatever damage is done, we’ll rebuild from it and just move forward.”
