B.C. man braves highway inferno to help evacuate family farm

Adrian Chivers has a lot of fond memories of his grandparents' ranch near Merritt, B.C., where he says he has spent many happy hours since he was small.

So when Chivers, 24, began receiving voicemails and text messagesfrom his uncle asking for help Sunday afternoon while on the way home to the Lower Mainland after a camping trip, he says hedidn't hesitate.

"I hadn't even got home yet, just getting back into cell reception," he said.

His uncle told him heneeded to move livestock off the Lower Nicola ranch and fast.

WhatChivers didn't expect as he drove upwere the hundreds of trees ablaze along the Coquihalla Highway.

"One of the most extreme things I've seen the flames burning the highway fences right there, 70 [or] 80-foot trees candling, entirely lit on fire. I could feel the heat overpowering me in the cabin of my truck The flames were just so hot and everything was so engulfed.

WATCH| B.C. man drives through blaze to help save family ranch:

Ranchers struggle to get livestock to safety when fleeing B.C. wildfires

3 years ago

Duration 2:08

Among the thousands of people fleeing wildfires in the B.C. Interior are ranchers who face the added challenge of also protecting their livestock.

"There was a patch of smoke after the fires that was so thick [that] you couldn't see it was almost like driving through the middle of the night with your lights off," Chivers said Tuesday to Sarah Penton, the host of CBC's Radio West.

The Lytton wildfires prompted an evacuation order for properties near the community of Lower Nicola over the weekendand forced the Coquihalla Highway to close between Hope and Merritt on Sunday night.

The highway reopened Tuesday morning.

His uncle had already moved his animals to a neighbour's farm. But when that farm was also ordered evacuated, Chivers helped the familyrelocate the animals to Merritt's rodeo grounds where he has been staying since Sunday.

Most of them made it, except for some chickens they were unable to round up and a frightened mare the family had kept for 11 years.

"[We were] trying to load her in the middle of the night with high winds and smoke in the air," he said. "They [the horses] are used to roaming around on my grandma's property, so being stuffed in a trailer in the middle of the night in a strange field was unfortunately too much for her."

"She was very panicky because police lights in the back [were] driving along the roads and she hadn't really been trailered much, so she reared up and flipped over backwards and hit her head and killed herself."

Chivers said while his family is mourning the death of a family friend, they're thankfultheir farmhouse, equipped with a sprinkler systemsurvivedand for the generosity ofpeople in Lower Nicola and Merritt.

"Everybody's been really amazing and helpful in the community," he said. "If we can help others, we're also trying to do the same, because you got to come together in a situation like this."

Tap the link below to hear Adrian Chivers's interviewon Radio West:

Man felt scorching heat from trees burning on both sides of highway

3 years ago

Duration 1:00

Adrian Chivers drove the Coquihalla Highway on Sunday to help with evacuation of his family farm near Lower Nicola.