Sheldon York said there is nothing left of his parent's home up in Twin Lakes area south of Penticton, B.C., on Friday after a fire sparked early in the morning.
"I got a call out at work saying my family's house was burned to the ground," he said. "My mom woke up to the smell of smoke and fire crackling. They just made it out."
"When I got up there, fire crews would not let me go down but they lost everything from two dogs and five cats. My mom's a diabetic so she lost all of her insulin supplies. All their clothes... My mom lost everything, ID, pictures, even my grandmother's urns. It can never be replaced."
The family managed to save three of their dogs.
"All the cats, even a brand new kitten died. They have three horses that the neighbours have cut the fence so they can run wild right now until it's contained."
He said that the house foundation was still on fire by the time they left.
York is currently at the hospital in Penticton with his family. His grandfather was the first out of the home and is uninjured.
"Both my mom and sister are in the hospital right now getting looked over and making sure nothing major happened," he added.
"I had to run to the diabetes clinic to get some supplies for my mom, so that way she had something when she got out."
The family has registered with the Emergency Support Services team, who have opened a reception centre to provide support to evacuees impacted by regional wildfires.
ESS is located at 199 Ellis Street, volunteers can help those who need accommodation and other support. People needing immediate support must register in person.
Just last month, a home in Twin Lakes had been completely gutted by a fire on Grand Oro Road. The area has no fire protection.
Subrina Monteith, area director for Twin Lakes, said she continues to be in communication with the rural community in regard to getting a fire brigade started.
"When we have a home that's on fire until it hits a forestry concern, there's really not a lot of help other than neighbours that show up to help," she said.
"Residents talk to me frequently about this. So I do expect to see an organized fire brigade at some point develop in Twin Lakes, just because there's an obvious need and with our current fire climate in our province, it makes sense for the community to want to have organized fire protection."
Monteith said she encourages everyone to make sure they're signed up for the RDOS Voyent Alert to provide notifications and alerts throughout the region.
The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen Emergency Operations Centre has been working in partnership with BC Wildfire Service on issuing alerts, orders and information on the fire.
Mark Woods, EOC Director, spoke with Castanet on Thursday about how it’s hard for them to confirm any loss of structure because they can't confirm any structure loss until it's verified working with the rapid damage assessment team.
Members of the team will have to wait for approval from BCWS to enter the area, to check on whether rumours of structures being lost can be confirmed or not.
The reason the RDOS will not put out structure loss information before that confirmation process is done is to ensure that no one is being told their home is lost or not, without the team having eyes on it.
Castanet Reporter Don Urquhart had eyes on the firefighting efforts Friday morning and said five water bombers are dropping water and retardant in the area.
