Timber Kings TV stars work to save log homes from B.C. wildfires
Popular HGTV series is filmed in and around WIlliams Lake, B.C.
Stars of the popular TV show Timber Kings are desperately trying to protect their remaining work sites after losing one to wildfire.
The popular home improvement show is filmed in and around Williams Lake, B.C. where wildfires have been raging and the city is under an evacuation alert.
Brian Reid Sr. started the company featured on the show, Pioneer Log Homes, more than 40 years ago. He builds and sells luxury log homes that are shipped around the world.
Reid Sr. lost one of his three work sites to a wildfire.
"It's 100 percent burnt. All the inventory. There were four houses under construction. All the tools, some equipment," he said.
"It's a total loss."
He estimates the damage is in the millions of dollars, but says he's thankful it was one of the smaller sites.
Now, all he can do is anxiously watch his two other sites near Soda Creek and Williams Lake.
Because the sites are filled with shavings, sawdust and raw timber, they are highly volatile and a single ember could ignite the lot.
"I've been coming here every day and staying here every day for 24/7. I walk through [the site] then sleep here in my pickup, watching it, then waking up every 15, 20 minutes, and I go for another walk looking for embers."
Williams Lake — a city of around 10,000 people with another few thousand in the surrounding area — has been under evacuation alert since Monday, July 10 and officials say the alert could last for weeks.
"There's a lot of hardy people out here. They're not going to give up. None of us are going to give up. We'll beat this thing," said Reid Sr.
