T.J. Walkem was tracking the Shetland Creek wildfire near Spences Bridge on July 17 and knew exactly where his cows were.
In order to rescue his cattle and get them to safety, he needed to ride towards a growing wall of flame.
“It was roaring. The wind was creating its own wind; it was a wind tunnel,” he says. “The flames were extremely high. All you could do was move as quickly as you can.”
Walkem owns 60 Ranch and is a band member of Cook's Ferry Indian Band. The wildfire is burning in a culturally sensitive area and on a big portion of their reserve.
His cows were in a dangerous location that would make it very difficult to move them should the fire come any closer.
“We moved them north to get away from the fire,” he tells Glacier Media.
But the conditions changed and the fire jumped, combining two wildfires into one large one at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
A neighbour rancher jumped to help and together with his family, they rode as hard and fast as they could to the cows, reaching them at 7 p.m.
“The flames were 500 metres away. The whole valley was on fire and flames were well above the trees,” recalls Walkem. “It was shell shocking, still surreal that we experienced it.”
They managed to get half of the cows to safety, but unfortunately some ran back, he says.
“You just have to be OK with that because you can’t lose your life over it,” Walkem says. “We ended up riding for six hours to get to the highway and then finished at midnight.”
Half of his cows are unaccounted for and he cannot confirm if any were killed in the fire.
“It’s a possibility,” he says. “We haven’t been able to get into the fire where the cows were.”
He’s now trying to get the cows a place to stay and still dealing with the massive fire on their doorsteps.
“We’re going day by day. That’s all you can do.”
Walkem, who's lived in Spences Bridge all his life, is no stranger to wildfires. He was evacuated in 2021.
“At the end of the day, we still have animals to deal with. We still have people to help and still are in this fire,” he says. “Everybody is doing what they can.”
Walkem hopes that everyone will be vigilant and make a safety plan.
“If the fire is 15 kilometres away you should actively be thinking about moving, because as you can see with this fire, it ran,” he says.
The Shetland Creek wildfire is suspected to be caused by lightning and it is the only wildfire of note burning in B.C. as of July 18. As of Thursday, it is mapped at almost 5,000 hectares.
