Hiker Ida Von Huth Smith looks on as a rescue helicopter lands.Sage Randle/Supplied
Sage Randle and two of her friends had just finished eating sandwiches on the summit of B.C.’s Mount Bruce Monday when the hikers spotted a whiff of something rising from the forest below. It was windy around Invermere, and they thought perhaps it was a bit of dust flying around.
One friend ran ahead to check it out. “He yelled back at us that it was a fire,” Ms. Randle said in an interview. “We just didn’t even believe him. We’re like: ‘There’s no way that’s happening right now.’ ”
Canada is in the midst of a record-setting wildfire season, with 4,772 fires destroying about 12 million hectares so far this year. By way of comparison, the 10-year average equates to 3,633 fires burning 1.6 million hectares a year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
There were 435 active wildfires burning in B.C. on Wednesday, including the one that ignited Monday afternoon on Mount Bruce while Ms. Randle, Ida Von Huth Smith and Malte Hjortkjaer were hiking.
The unidentifiable whiff in the air that day quickly grew into an unmistakable wall of smoke between them and Ms. Randle’s car, parked at the trailhead about three kilometres from the summit.
“There’s no way for us to get back,” Ms. Randle said. “It was growing insanely fast and we just had to get away.”
The trio had cellphone service, so one of them reported the fire while Ms. Randle called 911 and tried to explain their predicament. She assumed she would have to tell the dispatcher which direction they were going to run and hope search and rescue could use that information to find them.
But Ms. Randle said that while she was on the phone, Glacier Helicopters Ltd., which operates out of bases in Invermere and Revelstoke, spotted smoke on the mountain, saw her car at the trailhead and realized hikers could be trapped.
A red and white helicopter landed in a clearing on the mountain, as white, grey and black smoke billowed thick into the blue sky. “They just immediately instructed us on what to do, how to get into the helicopter,” Ms. Randle said. The hikers handed over their backpacks, bear spray, poles and ran toward the aircraft, with their heads tucked down.
The pilot dropped them off at Ms. Randle’s car, which was on a logging road, and flew over them for about 10 minutes, until the adventurers were out of danger.
Ms. Randle, who lives in Invermere but is from Sechelt, and her friends, who are on working holidays from Denmark, called their loved ones to let them know what happened. Then they went to Stolen Church Gelato & Coffee.
“I got rhubarb sorbet,” she said.
Greg Flowitt, Glacier Helicopters’ base manager in Invermere, confirmed the rescue mission. “I am just glad we got them out safe,” he said in an e-mail.
The blaze, known as the Horsethief Creek fire, started about seven kilometres north of Panorama Mountain Resort and 10 kilometres west of Invermere, both popular mountain destinations in the Columbia Valley. It burned nearly 1,000 hectares by Tuesday afternoon, according to BC Wildfire Service. The Regional District of East Kootenay issued an evacuation order for 25 dwellings and an evacuation alert for more than 1,000 dwellings because of the fire.
The Horsethief Creek blaze is one of the wildfires of note in southeastern B.C. In the region, the St. Mary’s River wildfire burned seven homes on the ʔaq’am First Nation, near Cranbrook, and the Lladnar Creek fire prompted local authorities to issue evacuation alerts affecting roughly 2,000 people in Sparwood.
BC AdventureSmart on Wednesday urged outdoor enthusiasts to have an emergency exit plan before hiking in light of this summer’s tumultuous wildfire conditions. It also reminded hikers to check wind direction and carry an emergency communication device that does not rely on cell service.
Ms. Randle, 26, still wants to hike this summer, but Monday’s adventure has her adjusting her approach. She now plans to pack a satellite phone, even for casual day trips.
“It definitely makes me feel like I need to be a bit more cautious,” she said. “I still don’t believe it happened.”
Three hikers at the top of Mount Bruce, B.C. were fortunate to be rescued by helicopter on Monday after a forest fire swept their trail. Seeing their empty car and the approaching fire, the helicopter crew searched out the hikers and airlifted them to safety.
The Globe and Mail
Carrie Tait