Here to help out ‘as long as it takes’
Volunteers head into regions hit by wildfires to do what they can
The only thing that stopped Logan Piesse from leaving Rocky Mountain House in Alberta early Sunday morning to help out with the B.C. wildfires was a tornado warning. When it cleared later that day, he began the 12-hour drive to Prince George.
Piesse towed a six-horse trailer, arriving Monday morning at the Prince George Exhibition Grounds, where he was immediately sent south to the city of Williams Lake — now under evacuation alert — to pick up a load of horses belonging to people under evacuation order or threatened by fire.
Piesse, 26, is part of a Ford diesel truck enthusiast club, Western Canadian Powerstrokes, which has other members from Alberta and B.C. who are also helping out.
The group also volunteered during the Fort McMurray fires in Alberta last spring.
When Piesse, a welder, got the OK from his workplace, Bunch Projects, to take time off, he said he just had to go.
He said when he was working in Chilliwack during the Fort McMurray fires, people he knew in B.C. helped out their Alberta neighbours.
“That’s why I am here.” On Monday, Piesse put in three trips, with the smoky haze thick in the Williams Lake area and blazes eerily visible across the Fraser River during his last trip in the late-night darkness.
After nearly two days without sleep, Piesse caught some rest in his truck and was back at it later Tuesday morning, joined by Postmedia.
On his fourth trip to Williams Lake, he passed a young man not far south of Quesnel holding up a sign that said “Free coffee.”
Piesse had stopped for the coffee on one of his Monday trips.
People want to help out those helping out, he said.
Just past McLeese Lake, still on Highway 97 south toward Williams Lake, the smoke was even thicker Tuesday than the day before, Piesse said.
There was a distinct smell of burning wood in the air.
Farther along the highway, dozens of smoke plumes were visible, spiralling up along the hills on the west side of the Fraser River.
Part of the concern is the fires may jump the Fraser River.
Just before Williams Lake, RCMP roadblocks stopped people taking side roads east of the highway, including in the Wildwood area, which has been largely evacuated. There has been some looting in the area.
At Williams Lake, the lake was not visible and the hills were just a faint outline.
At Stampede Park, in a low spot in the centre of Williams Lake, Piesse and other horse-hauling volunteers waited for the next load of equines from the surrounding area to arrive. Williams Lake is a community waiting — concerned — and wondering if the wind will pick up as forecast today. That could spell more trouble. There were many volunteers at Stampede Park, as well as stacks of food donated by people and businesses.
Bridget Rosette, a member of the Williams Lake horse and ranching community, was helping organize horse transfers on Tuesday.
She said many people were volunteering, helping move as many as 200 horses to safety by Tuesday night.
“We can’t say enough about everybody. It’s an awesome chainlink effect. We all work together,” Rosette said. “We don’t want to leave any horses behind.”
As seven horses were loaded, they nickered and neighed, a little stressed, some more willing to load into the trailer than others.
These horses are headed to Tabor Lake, east of Prince George, to a property belonging to friends of the owners.
On the way to Williams Lake Tuesday, Piesse made a pit stop at the Denny’s in Quesnel. There he met up with Steve Love, also a member of the Ford truck club, and Lee Graham, a friend of Love’s, both from the Edmonton area.
They hauled fuel and water and other supplies to help out those in the McLeese Lake area.
Love also helped out during the Fort McMurray fire.
“People need help, you do it,” he said, echoing a common refrain.
Graham said he was honoured when asked by Love to join him for the trip.
“It’s one of those things. You can’t say no. It feels good,” Graham said.
Also on the trip to Williams Lake, Piesse gave a big wave to another member of Western Canadian Powerstrokes, Rod Duerksen, who is from Prince George and was also hauling horses.
Back on the road again, Piesse took time to drop iced-tea bottles off to police officers manning the barricades at Wildwood. By the start of the return trip to Prince George, Piesse had already put about 3,800 kilometres on his truck. Asked how long he will continue helping out, Piesse gives a short, definitive answer:
“As long as it takes.”