The Sounder - Fall 2010 - (Page 6)

6 OUR STORIES! Fire? Yes, unfortunately it’s true that we had a major fire in camp this year, just before our opening. At four o’clock in the morning, May 18th (five days before our opening date) Liz awoke to a loud bang; it was a stormy night so Liz thought it was a lightening and thunder storm. When Liz stepped out of her tent she saw the eerie orange glow of the fire. She quickly jumped on her bicycle and peddled as fast as her little legs would allow up the valley to staff accommodations where she threw her bike down and ran to Courtney and Cosy’s cabin as John and Adele were away. Courtney and Cosy drove down to camp to assess the situation. When they came into camp and saw the flames burning 60 feet in the air they made the radio call “ALL HANDS ON DECK – FIRE, FIRE!” Within minutes there were about 30 people frantically trying to put out the fire wearing everything from pyjamas, rain boots and flip flops! The fire truck was on scene, pulling water from the estuary as well as Digger Dave in the excavator. The fire started by a laptop battery overheating in the guide office and quickly spread to the pool table lounge, retail store, library lounge, administration office and the outdoor lounge of the cookhouse. When Dave arrived with the excavator he realized that the cookhouse was the most important thing to rescue. Dave drove the excavator through the hitching post, over the boardwalk, smashed a tent out of his way and quickly started ripping the burning structure away from the restaurant. After hours of fire fighting the staff finally got the flames under control. At this point, the only thing the staff could do was sit and watch the flames burn out in a complete state of disbelief as ashes rained down around them. Then it was time to make the call… Cosy called John and Adele to give them the news. To make the situation worse, May 18th was their 37th wedding anniversary. John called Rick and the three of them made their way back to the Resort. As the floatplane circled the smouldering remains of what used to be, John and Adele were overwhelmed; not only because of the significance of the damage but mostly because of the sense of relief that the 30 loyal staff standing together below them were miraculously unharmed. When they landed and drove into camp, John stepped out of his truck and addressed his staff; he expressed how grateful he was that nobody was injured and continued to give scenarios in an extremely calm manner (he knew the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Sounder - Fall 2010

The Sounder Fall 2010
Contents
Horses in Strathcona Park
Painting with Cheryl
The Garden
Bedwell Hatchery Project
Fire at Resort
New Brochures and Videos
Our Reasort Team and Buddies
Guest Book

The Sounder - Fall 2010