Trapped B.C. hiker recalls narrowly escaping raging wildfire

Bernard Cloutier, 66, was on the cusp of finishing a three-week solo hike through Cathedral Provincial Park in B.C.'s southern Interior when chaos struck.

Early last week, the experienced backcountry hiker from Penticton, B.C., says he realized the danger he was in when he saw the Crater Creek wildfire burning in the distance.

"I saw this huge plume, like a cumulus cloud, but it was … at 5,000 feet… It was becoming dark … and then that cloud became orange," said Cloutier.

"I knew I was ... in clear and imminent danger of really frying into bacon for bears."

The Crater Creek wildfire is around 440 square kilometres in size as of Tuesday evening and is classified as a "wildfire of note," meaning the blaze is highly visible or poses a potential threat to public safety.

After waiting for 30 hours in suspense at a point around eight kilometres from the U.S. border, the hiker was rescued by volunteers with Penticton Search and Rescue (PSAR). 

Cloutier says he's "immensely grateful" for B.C. Parks and PSAR during the "terrible ordeal."

"These people, they're volunteers and they do their work in the background. Nobody knows what they're doing, but when they're needed, they make a huge difference in somebody's life," he said. 

Ron Berlie, vice-president of operations at PSAR, says rescuers were called in to evacuate Cloutier on Wednesday morning as he was in an area surrounded by fire. 

"To get to him you had to go through the area that was affected by the fire and conversely he couldn't leave because the exit area for him was affected by the fire," Berlie said, adding Cloutier did a lot of things to support rescue efforts. 

"Bernard [left a] trip plan with a person and he was able to communicate with them with a satellite device, and that greatly assists us when performing rescues."

A 'special' trip gone wrong

Cloutier says he was achieving a long-held dream by completing the longest trip he's ever taken, a 21-day trek through Cathedral Provincial Park — an area of remote wilderness around 40 kilometres west of the Okanagan Valley that borders the U.S.

The hiker had previously completed 14- and 16-day treks through the park in 2021 and 2022 in preparation for the long hike.

"This trek was really, really special because I was achieving a breakthrough [and] I was going over 20 days," he said, adding he was 11 kilometres from his car when he saw smoke nearby. 

He says he immediately contacted B.C. Parks with his satellite phone to co-ordinate the safest way out.

Cloutier says he had just come down from Lakeview Mountain, and heading back up the trail wasn't an option given the wind conditions.

"Anywhere upslope in that area was a death sentence, because [the moment] the wind [turned] around, [that] whole area was going to become engulfed in flames," he said. 

'Minutes away from the fire'

Cloutier says the helicopter team faced multiple challenges Wednesday morning in their initial rescue attempts. 

"The helicopter [had to leave] and that was really disheartening … Then 20 minutes later, the helicopter came back and … dropped something on me with a piece of paper," he said.

The note asked him to head north back up the trail through already burned forest to reach rescuers, which Cloutier says he was initially reluctant to do given the proximity to the fire. 

"I said to myself if you don't do it there may not be a tomorrow for you and I had to trust these people.

"I was minutes away from the fire. That's how close I was and the devastation was heartbreaking," he said, adding he later met two rescuers who guided him to the helicopter in a clearing. 

Looking back, Cloutier says he was extremely lucky given how fast the fire was moving and how close he was to it. 

"Few hours after my rescue, the fire went through and beyond where I was and the fire area quadrupled in just a few hours."

Berlie advises anyone heading into the backcountry to go prepared in case of situations like Cloutier's. 

"What was very important in this case was [Cloutier] followed the instructions of [PSAR] … [even though] he wasn't really comfortable going [north] … it was the quickest way for him to get rescued," said Berlie, adding search-and-rescue operations are completely free of charge in B.C. 

"A lot of people delay calling search-and-rescue because they think they're going to be billed for the service, but there is no charge for that in British Columbia."