As a longtime fiction writer, Judith Hutchinson-Lepore knows a good story when it happens. The West 乌鸦传媒 author realized the devastating McDougall Creek wildfire in August 2023 was one no one would ever forget.
Having recently moved to the gated community of Royal Heights, Lepore documented the disaster in her new book, Finding the Phoenix: An Evacuee乌鸦传媒 Harrowing Story of Fleeing the McDougall Creek Wildfire. The fire destroyed over 13,000 hectares and more than 200 homes, with 35,000 residents evacuated鈥10,000 in the first 24 hours. Royal Heights was among the most-impacted areas.
鈥淥ur neighborhood was among the hardest hit, with more than half of the homes in our gated community of Royal Heights burned to the ground,鈥 said Lepore. 鈥淲e were evacuated for over a month and forced to live a nomadic existence, changing location six times in a matter of a couple of weeks, while enduring the anguish of not knowing for many days whether our house was still standing.
鈥淣otwithstanding, there were many rays of light throughout our ordeal. The generosity and compassion of people in our community and beyond, the courage and determination of firefighters and police and the resilience and connectedness of our West 乌鸦传媒/乌鸦传媒 community was unbelievable.鈥
Normally a fiction writer, Lepore said the experience made it clear she needed to write about it.
鈥淭he story documents the events leading up to our evacuation, the prolonged period of uncertainty while she, her family and neighbors awaited news of what had become of our home and our neighbourhood and how we, as a community, worked through the aftermath,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f you were here to see exactly what happened, you never forget it. It乌鸦传媒 a day I will remember for the rest of my life.鈥
Lepore, a veteran writer, has published The Magic of Miraven fantasy trilogy between 2021 and 2024.
鈥淚鈥檝e been a published author and writer for a very long time, which is what kind of propelled me to kind of drop everything and decide to chronicle this natural disaster as I felt it was almost like a duty,鈥 she said. 鈥淗ere I was a professional author and I was caught in the worst-hit area of a massive fire that destroyed so many homes was evacuated for more than a month. I honestly felt compelled to write about it.鈥
She and her husband bought their West 乌鸦传媒 home in 2021, living part-time in Tsawwassen until moving permanently in 2022. The wildfire struck the following summer.
鈥淲hat乌鸦传媒 really weird, and I talk about it a bit at the end of the book, is the previous record for the worst wildfire ever was set 20 years previous, on the exact same day,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat乌鸦传媒 just insane when you think about it as hundreds of homes were also destroyed in that fire. You have to see it as a coincidence, but it乌鸦传媒 the most eerie coincidence ever.鈥
Though she hoped to release the book for the one-year anniversary of the fire, one of her granddaughters became seriously ill. She recovered, but Lepore paused writing for months.
Advance copies were sent to West 乌鸦传媒 Mayor Gord Milsom and Fire Chief Jason Brolund, both of whom supported her project.
鈥淭hey both encouraged me to publish it, so there乌鸦传媒 been a lot of really nice support,鈥 she said.
The night before the fire, hundreds of homes were on evacuation notice.
鈥淣o one really took it seriously as there weren鈥檛 any signs of anything major,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t was just a nice summer day and it was really hard to believe there was anything to worry about... I had gone for a nap... and woke up and went into the backyard and saw this giant funnel of smoke and flame billowing over the North Valley ridge, coming right down towards us. It was literally like out of the Wizard of Oz.
鈥淲e just basically ran to our car and left. It was truly horrifying.鈥
For two weeks, Lepore乌鸦传媒 family didn鈥檛 know if their house had survived.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 know if our house was still standing, so there was this horrible agony of uncertainty,鈥 she said. 鈥淪ome of our neighbors had doorbell cameras that showed many of the houses catch on fire, including the house right next door to us... We assumed our house was gone.鈥
Many neighbours lost their homes.
鈥淥ne of our best closest neighbors, with a seven-year-old, their house is just being finished now almost two years later,鈥 she said.
The book also includes humorous moments, text message exchanges, news excerpts, and reflections from her journal on PTSD.
鈥淭here are tons of stories talking to the neighbours and what they went through,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here乌鸦传媒 also some fun and humorous stuff... I also kept a journal that details some nightmares and PTSD I was going through... I didn鈥檛 want to write just gloom and doom.鈥
Her home had nearly $200,000 in damage, and fighting the insurance company is also detailed.
鈥淭he book basically chronicles the one month between the day of the fire and being forced to leave and then coming home and seeing the devastation and trying to start again,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t jumps forward in the last chapter to one year later and how things looked then and how I was feeling.鈥
Nearly two years later, she sees both loss and hope.
鈥淥ne of the nice things about any tragic ordeal like this is it can really bring people together... I now feel like such a deeply entrenched member of this community now, as opposed to a newcomer who had just moved in when the fire happened.鈥
鈥淚 always loved the finding the Phoenix metaphor when things are the darkest,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat乌鸦传媒 when you try to look ahead or otherwise you might succumb to despair.鈥
Writing helped her heal.
鈥淚t乌鸦传媒 been good for me and very cathartic for the community,鈥 she said.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 get away from natural disasters in our world today,鈥 she added. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 live in fear... Find the Phoenix wherever you go... You can鈥檛 live in fear or fear has won out and you won鈥檛 have any quality of life.鈥
The book was just released on July 30 and is now available at Mosaic Books, and has already reached No. 1 bestseller status on Amazon, said Lepore. 鈥淭he fact it has stayed at No. 1 on an Amazon list for more than a week since the release is kind of jaw dropping,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 working to get it in other bookstores and libraries as soon as possible. Mosaic has carried my fantasy books before, so I鈥檓 glad they鈥檙e being very supportive.鈥
The book is also available on major sites like Google, Apple and Indigo.