By Jim Coggins

AS FOREST fires threaten a city in the BC interior, some churches are in the line of the fire, and others are trying to help out. Some are in both categories.

Three fires broke out on the west side of Okanagan Lake last weekend and quickly became major threats, fanned by high winds and tinder-dry conditions. Over 10,000 people have been evacuated from their homes.

The Glenrosa fire started first, on the edge of West Kelowna, and immediately became a threat to homes and businesses. Because it was nearby, fire crews and other emergency personnel began using the parking lot of Emmanuel Church as a staging area on Saturday. However, when the fire jumped Highway 97 and began approaching the church, fire crews evacuated the area. Church staff quickly removed computers and other vital documents from the building and also left -- but not before church bookkeeper Marlene Beagle snapped some photos of the approaching wall of fire.

Church services were cancelled for Sunday. When senior pastor Derrick Hamre was interviewed on radio on Sunday morning, he encouraged church members to gather together, to pray, to volunteer and to help the community.

With calmer winds and aggressive firefighting on Sunday and Monday, the church and all but three homes were saved from the flames, although some others suffered damage.

The Rose Valley Fire proved somewhat harder to fight due to the difficult terrain, but was a little farther away and not considered an immediate threat to houses. What has become the largest fire, Turtle Mountain, was even farther away.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Church staff worked hard to keep in touch with the congregation and connect evacuated church families with families who could offer billeting. Hamre and his wife Sara-Lee had five people staying with them, even though their house was also on evacuation alert and they all could have been told to evacuate on a moment's notice.

Several other churches were also closed on the Sunday, including some not in the official evacuation area. Redeemer Lutheran Church decided not to hold its regular Sunday service for a variety of reasons: about half the congregation had been evacuated from their homes; some roads were closed, and people were being asked to avoid travelling on others to keep them clear for emergency vehicles; smoke was also an issue.

Some members of the church offered their homes for billeting. With the service cancelled, extra work was required to pull church members together to prepare for a vacation Bible school, scheduled for the week of July 27 - 31.

On its church sign, the church posted the words, "Lord, protect, save, heal, comfort in Jesus' name." Pastor Jonathan Asmus said it was both a prayer to God and a witness to the community.

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Churches not affected by the fires offered help in large and small ways. Members of St. George's Anglican Church made and took sandwiches to an emergency registration centre every day from the first day the fires began.

The Salvation Army provided over 2,000 meals to displaced residents, firefighters and other emergency staff and volunteers in the first weekend and had additional service vehicles and volunteers on call in case the fires continued to spread.

Members of many churches offered to billet evacuees in their homes, and the offers exceeded the need. Many evacuees had gone to stay with friends or family, while others just jumped into their RVs and drove them down to the Wal-Mart parking lot or various campgrounds.

Circle Square Ranch, a Christian camp about an hour north in Armstrong, BC, had some vacancies this week, so director Dwayne Boyd phoned churches and the evacuation centre in the affected area offering a free week of camp to any evacuated children.

The current fires have not affected the larger city of Kelowna on the east side of Okanagan Lake, but the fires stirred memories of 2003 when similar fires there destroyed hundreds of homes and drove thousands of people into evacuation centres.

Kelowna Christian Centre began collecting and delivering bedding to the main evacuation centre in West Kelowna on Saturday evening, and offered other help, which has so far not been needed.

Trinity Baptist Church in Kelowna provided emergency lodging to evacuees and hosted a public meeting for people who had lost their homes in 2003. Trinity is still listed as a possible emergency lodging or reception centre with Emergency Social Services (ESS), but Kelowna is in a different disaster response area than West Kelowna, and designated centres there will be used only if the centres in West Kelowna are themselves evacuated or become overcrowded. Trinity has offered ESS a variety of help, including prayer. ESS responded asking for prayer.

The prayers are being answered. By Tuesday, the Glenrosa fire was 60 percent contained, and 6,000 of the 11,000 evacuees were allowed back home, while still being kept on alert for another evacuation. Emmanuel Church was reopened.

But the churches are not relaxing their efforts. One thing they have learned from previous fires is "it's not done 'til it's done," said Candace Giesbrecht, pastor of compassion and mission ministries at Trinity Baptist. One big wind going the wrong way or a thunderstorm with lightning strikes could quickly reignite the current fires or start new ones.

Even when the fires are over, they leave a lot of devastation and trauma behind them. "We know we still have a lot of work and opportunity ahead of us," said Giesbrecht said.

She encouraged churches in other communities to look at their resources and talk to city officials about what they have to offer their communities -- because, she said, disasters can strike without warning and it is a privilege to "be Jesus" and "serve the community in tangible ways."

July 24/2009