Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Bree Cawley
August 15, 2020 - 11:43 AM
A Vernon family is looking for a new truck and trailer after theirs was destroyed when a fire started during their vacation in the back of their vehicle.
Bree Cawley said her husband Todd Montgomery was on his way to Whatshan Lake for a week-long camping vacation Tuesday, Aug. 11 with their two young daughters when he noticed smoke out of the corner of his eye.
“They were about 20 kilometres down a forestry road with no cell service and he said he looked in the back… and the back of the truck was fully engulfed,” she said.
They jumped out of the car, and Montgomery tried to stop the fire with a few fire extinguishers to no avail.
They started walking down the road and were found by people who were camping nearby, she said. After leaving his daughters at the campsite, the group of strangers then assisted Montgomery in trying to put out of the fire.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Todd Montgomery
“They made sure the forest didn’t completely catch on fire as it was right beside the trees. I can’t believe it didn’t start a catastrophe,” she said.
Insurance will cover the truck and trailer, but Cawley said her friend started a GoFundMe to help recover the cost of the items lost inside which isn’t covered. Cawley said they aren't sure what caused the fire, as they just had regular camping equipment in the box of the truck.
Cawley was eventually called when Montgomery had cell service and she drove three and a half hours to get them.
“Now we’re looking to buy a new truck which definitely wasn’t in the cards,” she said.
She wants to thank the strangers for their help with the fire. “Thank you to these people that took my family in, if they weren’t there, I’m confident it would have been a horrific forest fire, given the nature of the heat.”
The GoFundMe can be found online.
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