When the Bald Range wildfire broke out last Friday, Tyler Wall knew that he wasn’t going to leave his Meadow Valley, B.C., home.
“We thought it was just like a big storm cloud or sheet, at least,” Wall told Global News about what they saw on Friday.
“And then I looked down and I was like, ‘Oh no, that’s not a cloud. That’s a fire.’”
Wall said he could not believe how fast the fire spread from one peak to another.
“Early morning, Saturday, I left the property and we went down and started clearing the road out so that people could get out who still wanted to get out because the trees, the debris on the road was insane,” he added.
“We had a little mini excavator down there… And we changed on and out and then someone from the other side came through and pushed it all over with a loader so people could get out of there. But it was crazy, just the scramble that I saw with everyone.”
Wall said it has been a long week and he has not been able to sleep much.
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Even though officials do not recommend staying in an evacuation zone, Wall said there was no way he was leaving.
“I’ve invested too much and I get that some people might see that as well, you’re being stupid and you know you’re putting your life at risk, but this is my life out here. Everything I’ve worked for is out here,” he said.
Wall said he and some others who stayed behind also helped fight the fire and he said they saved some homes.
“Two of the guys that were down here with us fighting it, they have firefighting experience,” he added.
“So we were well equipped with what we had and there was knowledge down here to do what we did. And we did a damn good job. Every firefighter that’s come up here said you guys did exactly what you needed to do.”
Wall added that helicopters were bucketing water on the fire near them, which also helped save their homes and their sanity.
But he said he has never experienced anything like this massive fire.
“We all stayed as calm as we could and executed a plan,” he said.
“I’m a young guy; I’m 25. I’ve obviously never seen anything like this in my life.”
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