Guest Blog featuring Kathryn Brooks: An Evacuee's Story (Part 2)
By Kathryn Brooks
Continued…from part 1
Day 2….Thursday, July 1
- not so happy Canada Day
We woke after only a couple hours of broken sleep, stunned, numb and having an overwhelming sense of uncertainty. We gathered the small number of items that we managed to escape with and left the motel. We were going to get dad from the other motel, find some breakfast and travel an hour to Kamloops to register with ESS (Emergency Support Services) at MacArthur Park. We would soon find out that this day would not be as easy as that sounds.
I went to check on mom, in her room, and she was ready to go. Mom and I got into my car and Sandy stayed with his brother who also got a room at the motel we stayed at. We went two blocks to get dad. His truck was already gone. We looked around Cache Creek, then we drove 5 minutes into Ashcroft and could not locate his vehicle anywhere. We discovered last night that he fled with only the clothes on his back, no wallet (credit card, debit card, driver’s license) no money, nothing but himself and his truck. He did not have a cell phone. Mom and Dad did have my old cell phone for emergencies, but they did not have time to grab it before the fire came. Mom gave him the cash she had in her purse, about $40. We knew he wouldn’t get far with this. Maybe some food and a tank of gas. After we checked everywhere and still did not locate him, we started to look for food. We met Sandy at the Husky in Cache Creek. We decided it would be best to go in one vehicle and asked the Manager there if we could leave his truck in the parking lot. The lot is huge as it is a big truck stop and 24 hour gas/convenience store and very well lit. He said that we could not leave it on their property, so we left it in Ashcroft at the Tim Horton’s. Most restaurants were closed due to the stat holiday or packed full of other hungry travelling customers, so we were unsuccessful in locating a place to eat. Sandy’s brother decided to head to Merritt to register with ESS.
We made the hour drive to Kamloops and found a place to have breakfast. We then proceeded to head to MacArthur Park to register with ESS and find out what would happen next. When we arrived, we saw a few other Lytton residents in the parking lot looking as lost as we felt. We went inside and were immediately given a bottle of water each and asked us how they could help. They offered a chair for mom. This is where the kindness would end though. I told them we were from Lytton. They took my name and address on an orange sticky note. I advised them that my dad was missing, had no phone and no wallet. They gave me a form to fill out. They directed me to put his name in the missing person to locate area and my name and information on the other side. They then told us that they would call us in 4-5 hours as they were still processing last night’s evacuees and had to do those before they could help us. I told them this was okay as we needed to try to get mom’s prescriptions filled and go shopping for some clothes and necessities.
We went to Shoppers Drug Mart in Aberdeen and spoke to the pharmacist. They would be able to give her an emergency supply of her medication, but it would take about 4 hours to prepare. While we were at Shoppers, my cell phone rang. I didn’t answer it as the number was unknown. Thankfully, they left a voicemail. It was my insurance company, Wawanesa. They were reaching out to me the day after the fire! And it was a statutory holiday! They wanted to make sure we were safe and to put some money in my bank account to assist. I started to cry as this was very unexpected and amazing at the same time. I was extremely grateful. They emailed the paperwork and I sent it back right away.
My phone rang a second time, it was ESS.
ESS - Is Wayne Brooks there?
ME - This is his daughter Kathryn.
ESS – Oh. This is the number we have to reach him.
ME - No, this is the number I gave you to contact me if he registered. I told you he has no phone and no wallet.
ESS – What would you like us to do if we have no way to contact him?
ME – If he had a phone, I would have called it. I assumed you would contact me if you found him once he registered.
ESS – No, we don’t do that.
What? Why did they get me to fill out a form to locate a person we were looking for? My confidence in them was growing more uncertain.
Mom, Sandy and I went to Walmart to buy some clothing and necessities and wait for calls from ESS and the pharmacy. I took some time to check social media and realized that things were not good. The news from Lytton was devastating and the buzz in Kamloops was that there were no more hotel rooms. I started to panic and called some hotels to secure accommodation for the night. I called hotel after hotel only to be told that there were no rooms available. I sat in my car crying when I realized the state of our situation even further. I called my cousin, Corby, and he very graciously offered us to stay the night at his place in Aberdeen. We picked up mom’s prescriptions and grabbed a quick bite to eat. One of my business partners from Urban Systems, met me at McDonalds and gave me 3 gift cards from himself, Riverside Electrical and Extreme Contracting. I was overcome with gratitude from these companies that I have worked with at Kanaka. It was very thoughtful and generous.
We arrived at my cousin’s at about 8pm, exhausted. Had a quick visit then showered. As we were getting ready for bed about 10:30pm, a huge summer storm started. The sky was flashing with lightning and thunder shook his house. We saw on social media that Juniper Ridge, just over the hill was on fire from the storm. We could see the glow from Corby’s front window. Sandy and I decided to travel to Ashcroft to get his truck (and family keepsakes) in case the storm caused more fires and the truck could be stuck over there. Just as we were getting ready to leave, my cell phone rang. It was ESS calling 10 hours later. Our conversation:
ESS – Did you find a hotel room for the night?
ME – No, we are at my cousin’s home in Aberdeen.
ESS – That’s good because there aren’t any rooms.
ME - Ok
ESS – You need to head south.
ME – Why?
ESS – Because Juniper Ridge and Valleyview are on fire, and we need to help them.
ME – Ok
ESS – Are you ok?
ME – No
ESS – Well, we hope you have a good night.
As someone whose first life experience with a tragedy was of this magnitude, I felt numb, lost, abandoned, and thrown aside. I did not know if this was how it was supposed to go. Weren’t they supposed to help? Weren’t they supposed to…. I don’t know.
Corby was packing some items in case he had to evacuate. He said if he had to leave, he would head to his sister’s home in Maple Ridge. I asked him to take mom and we would connect there in the worst case scenario.
We left to head to Ashcroft, not knowing what we would do in the coming days. When we got to Ashcroft, we picked up the truck and took another look for my dad and his truck. We left Ashcroft and Cache Creek without locating him. When we arrived back at Corby’s, both Mom and Corb were sleeping. We went to bed about 2am and fell into our second sleep riddled with haunting flashback nightmares of June 30th.
~if you missed part 1 of Kathryn’s story, you can read it here~