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The Community Wildfire Resiliency Celebration united South Cariboo residents through shared experience

‘It’s hard to fully recover because you’re on edge all the time.’
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The story-weaving board allowed people to share their experiences by weaving yarn through pegs attached to associated words. Beth Audet photos.

The 100 Mile House Wildfire Resiliency Celebration gave South Cariboo residents the opportunity to share their stories and move forward together on Sunday, July 15, in Centennial Park.

Laura Dewar, the community wellness manager for United Way TNC, said the event was “really successful” and she was pleased with the outcome.

“It’s been a real pleasure,” she said, adding that they were lucky to have an outpouring of volunteers.

The event featured a story-telling booth, where folks could record - individually or in a group - their experiences during last summer’s wildfires and talk about how they were affected.

It also included a map of evacuation, where people could mark down the areas they evacuated to, a packing board, where you could share the funniest things you packed (or forgot to pack) and a story-weaving board.

The board, which Dewar made, herself, highlighted a wide range of words that people might associate their experience with, from feelings to events to objects. Each word was accompanied by a peg.

“The idea,” said Dewar, “is they look at the board and find what word resonates and go peg to peg,” using a colourful piece of yarn.

People weaved their story into the board throughout the day. As the day went on, Dewar said the board would reflect “quite the pattern.”

Aleta Bryan, a volunteer from 100 Mile House, said the process of weaving your story “evokes memories and feelings.”

Bryan, herself, weaved her story into the board and found she avoided the word “smoke.”

“It’s interesting that we may avoid or be drawn to words depending on how we’re processing.”

She said she was amazed by all the stories being told.

RELATED: Mental health after the 2017 wildfires in the South Cariboo

Ken and Joanne Seabloom, from Lone Butte, told their story in the form of two pins on the evacuation map.

The couple was evacuated twice - first to Gibsons during the Gustafsen fire, and then to 108 Mile Ranch during the Elephant Hill fire.

The family they stayed with in 108 Mile had previously sought shelter with them when they were first evacuated.

The Seablooms said they lost some of their elderly horses during the evacuation, but that everybody came together to help each other during the fires.

“We did our best and are very thankful for all the help.”

Joanne, who’s had a bit of asthma ever since last summer, said the opportunity to talk about their experience was “really nice.”

“It’s hard to fully recover because you’re on edge all the time,” she admitted.

Mayor Mitch Campsall joined in the celebration, placing a single pin on 100 Mile House on the evacuation map.

The 100 Mile House mayor said he chose not to leave, despite the evacuation order.

“I stayed with our firemen and I stayed with our staff and the emergency team that we had. I felt it was important to be there to make the decisions and to make them right away,” he said.

Coordinating over the phone, he said, “would not have been the right thing to do.”

Campsall, who also spent some time in the story-telling booth, said calling for the evacuation was “probably one of the worst feelings I’ve had in my life.”

One year later, he said he’s proud of how everybody pulled together and rebounded as a community.

“There’s a lot of positives to come out of last year … it really shows you what our community is all about.”

He said the resiliency celebration was another opportunity to talk about what happened and get difficult memories off your chest, something he admitted has been personally helpful in moving on.

Sunday’s event was organized by the United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo and run with the help of the Cariboo Family Enrichment Centre, the Emergency Social Services, the Disaster Psychosocial Services Program and many volunteers.


beth.audet@100milefreepress.net

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Carolyn Sinclair (left) from the Provincial Disaster Psychosocial team and Laura Dewar, the community wellness manager for United Way TNC, encourage people to fill out raffle tickets. Prizes were raffled off throughout the Resiliency Celebration at Centennial Park on Sunday, July 15.
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The Community Wildfire Resiliency Celebration allowed those affected by last summer’s wildfires to share their stories and move forward together. Beth Audet photo.