FILE PHOTO - From intact dishes to war medals, dozens of volunteers have been sifting through the ashes of the wildfire devastation in West Kelowna and the Shuswap to help residents recover some of their treasured belongings.

(JESSE TOMAS / iNFOnews.ca)

From intact dishes to war medals, dozens of volunteers have been sifting through the ashes of the wildfire devastation in West Kelowna and the Shuswap to help residents recover some of their treasured belongings.

Andy Northup, program manager at Samaritan’s Purse told iNFOnews.ca the main objective of the organization is to respond to natural disasters, from hurricanes and tornados to floods and, of course, fires. In the case of fires, their main goal is to look through the debris of burnt homes for valuable possessions.

“We do some debris removal, we do some danger tree work, but the main focus is the sifting of ash for people,” he said.

The organization gathered over 60 volunteers in the Kelowna and West Kelowna area to help sift through the ashes from the recent McDougall Creek wildfire disaster.

Northup said the volunteers go through an orientation before being kitted out with Level C Personal Protective Equipment and sent into the destroyed homes.

“We're always blown away by our volunteers,” he said. “Most of them are from this area. They just come and we're able to be able to direct them and guide them and train them up a bit and then get them out into the field. We’re always blown away by their care for homeowners and just that they want to go out and do that.”

When they get to the homes, volunteers ask the homeowners if there is anything specific that they want them to look for.

“It could be anything from a diamond ring to, you know…. sometimes it's as simple as their favourite coffee mug,” Northup said.

In West Kelowna, volunteers have been able to recover a multitude of items, one of which was a very previous collection of war medals.

“We were able to find a gentleman's dad's war medals in the ash, which was really beautiful for him,” he said. “His dad was in two wars and we were able to find the majority of his war medals, which was very special.”

Other items have included wedding rings and a little boy’s football shaped piggy bank.

“It was really cool to be able to find that for the little guy,” Northup said.

All their work is done for free, with the organization helping close to 40 homeowners in West Kelowna alone.

Its headquarters are in Calgary, so the team has had to find temporary bases in the Okanagan region. In the Shuswap, the organization has been working out of their base in Scotch Creek in the Shuswap Lake Provincial Park. A separate team has set up camp at the Emmanuel Church in Kelowna.

“(They have) a bunch of trucks and vans and all sorts of vehicles that are kind of camping out in our parking lot,” Caleb Bloch, youth pastor at Emmanuel Church in Kelowna said. They've been using the church as a basecamp while they help affected residents in the area.

“We've kind of been coexisting with them for the last almost two months,” he said. “Their entire desire is just to help our community as some people are picking up the pieces and they've been really great.”

More information about Samaritans Purse can be found on its website here.

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