BURSTJeff Dondo lost almost everything in the Pear Lake fire, yet looters somehow managed to take a little more.
A former worker at the Chasm Sawmill, Dondo said he has lived in the Chasm area for 30 years. In his neighbourhood on North Chasm Road, he is known for doing mechanic work to keep his neighbours’ trucks and cars on the road.
“At this point, all my tools are gone. Everything burnt up in the yard,” Dondo said. “I am 67, and I am retired. I guess this is kind of a forced retirement.
“Every building on the property is burnt right to the ground. There were two mobile homes, a house and numerous outbuildings and shops. Everything is burnt to the ground. Nothing left.”
When the Pear Lake fire grew and merged with the Big Bar Lake Fire in late July, Dondo’s home was one of many in the fire’s path. He said he got his partner safely to 100 Mile House and stayed behind as long as he could to keep his property safe by hosing it down with a rented pump for four days.
However, on Tuesday, July 28, in the evening, he said the fire trucks roared into his driveway and told him the fire was less than 100 meters away and it was time to leave. Dondo said he loaded up his four dogs in his vehicle and left.
“By the time I was going up the driveway, you could already see the fire in the bush,” Dondo said. “On Wednesday morning, I got confirmation that, yep, there was nothing left. We didn’t know what the hell we were going to do then.”
After evacuating, Dondo said he registered with Emergency Social Services, bought himself a pup-tent and made his way down to a campground in Spences Bridge. He was eventually joined by his girlfriend, and they bought a larger tent they lived in until Robert Cinq-Mars put him in touch with a man looking to sell his travel trailer. Dondo said the man gave him a beautiful travel trailer with full propane tanks and three months’ insurance and told him to keep it.
However, when Dondo was finally able to return to his property on Sunday, Aug. 23, he found that some of the few items that survived the fire had been taken. Dondo explained that several jerry cans and propane tanks left behind had been taken, along with his friend’s Traeger smoker and an old bronze ship’s bell Dondo had hanging by his fireplace in his home.
Dondo said he and his friend knew the smoker had survived the fire, based on photos of the property sent by the Thompson-Nicola Regional District. As for the bell, Dondo said he could see in the ashes of his home where the bell had fallen and then track where it had been dragged before being carried away.
“It’s about a 100-year-old ship’s bell, a single bell off a ship. It was hanging by a doorway near the woodstove. When we got up there, the woodstove was there and there was just an imprint where the bell had fallen down into the ashes,” Dondo remarked. “Then you could see it got dragged from where it fell to the side of the house and then they must have picked it up from there and took it away.”
He noted the jerry cans and propane tank had been moved and left on his property by the firefighters after he evacuated, so he knew they were still there. The firemen had left them in a crate, and when Dondo arrived, only the crate remained.
Dondo said his immediate thoughts when he realized what had happened were anger.
“What kind of lowlife would do something like that? Kick us while we’re down? It’s obvious we’ve got nothing and you took what we did have,” Dondo said.
He noted that in talking with other friends and neighbours in the Chasm area, he has heard that his property wasn’t the only one where items were taken. One friend’s ride-on lawnmower was taken, while another found two individuals allegedly shifting through the rubble of their home when they arrived.
Dondo said he has reported the thefts to the Clinton RCMP Detachment, where an officer told him they had received additional reports of theft.
“They think the property has been abandoned so they can just take whatever they like,” Dondo said. “None of the properties are abandoned; I’m pretty sure everybody wants to get back onto their property once they get something to live in.”
In the immediate future, Dondo said he plans to get a new affordable mobile home on his property before winter so he can begin rebuilding. He noted that he would also like his bell back.
Despite these thefts, Dondo said the fire and its aftermath have largely brought the community together. Everyone is doing their best to help one another in any way they can, whether that is providing donations, helping clean up or finding people places to stay. He noted that Samaritan’s Purse Canada is working with him and may be able to help him get that new trailer sooner rather than later.
“They’re trying to help us in any way they can to get us into some housing before winter,” Dondo said. “They’re going to look into used mobile homes for us.
“All I can say to everybody is hang in there and help each other out. Don’t be robbing each other blind.”
The suspected lightning-caused Pear Lake wildfire sparked on July 17 and, as of Sept.3, is 166,131.9 hectares and still burning out of control.