This volunteer firefighter lost his home as he worked to save others
Shaina Luck | CBC News | Posted: June 27, 2023 9:00 AM | Last Updated: June 27, 2023
'It was emotional, but the adrenaline was so high that I kind of blocked it out'
The last time Kasey DeMings saw his house was the day the fire got to Carleton Village, which is about a 15-minute drive from Shelburne, N.S.
DeMings, a fisherman of 10 years, had just joined the Gunning Cove volunteer fire department a few days earlier. That morning found him standing at the head of his driveway as the fire crawled closer.
But his crew was needed elsewhere, so DeMings turned away and went to save someone else's home.
"It was emotional, but the adrenaline was so high that I kind of blocked it out," he said. "I knew that I couldn't worry about my house. I had to try to save what we could save."
In the end DeMings, along with his wife and two young daughters, lost their house and garage, and the family cottage.
All the lobster traps, halibut gear and herring nets that were stored in the yard near their house burned as well — uninsured gear that DeMings estimates was worth $250,000.
"I guess we had hopes that DNR and the water bombers were going to stop it. And they just couldn't, it was just too big."
Massive fire response
The Barrington Lake fire started May 27 in rural Shelburne County and raged out of control for days. By the time the province announced the fire had been brought "under control," it had grown to around 235 square kilometres in size — making it the largest on record in Nova Scotia.
Officials said the fire destroyed about 60 homes and another 90 structures like outbuildings and barns.
It also displaced 6,700 people from their homes, some for as long as two weeks.
As many as 150 firefighters from the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables and many volunteer fire departments fought the blaze with helicopters, airplanes and water bombers.
'It felt like you were driving through hell'
DeMings already had some fire training from his work as a fisherman, and went into the Gunning Cove fire department the same weekend the Barrington Lake fire started.
He joined up that day and received basic training on the department's three fire trucks.
Then it was off to the fire zone, loading giant cube-shaped water tanks in the back of pickup trucks and using pumps borrowed from the Coast Guard to soak as many homes as possible.
"I really would like people to know that it was the volunteer firemen that saved a lot," he said.
"They fought until they couldn't fight no more."
The Department of Natural Resources and Renewables takes the lead on fighting forest fires, and has 112 staff who are dedicated to the task during the fire season. It can also draw on other trained staff in the department to have about 300 staff in total fighting fires across the province.
However, in places like Shelburne County, the 911 call goes out first to volunteer firefighters, so they're usually the first on scene before the department gets involved.
Eric Jeffery is also a fisherman and one of the 20 volunteer firefighters with Gunning Cove. He's been a firefighter for years with different departments, but had never seen a fire like this.
"It felt like you were driving through hell," he said of one particularly bad night. "It was just fire on both sides of the road, as far as you could see."
"We worked really, really hard," he said. "I've done forest fires before but normally you're just trucking water to DNR, you're dropping it in their tank and away you go. But this one, we were the front line."
Jeffery said most members of his department were fighting to save their own homes or their neighbours' homes, so they pushed themselves to the limit.
"They wanted to protect it, but they knew they had to do it safely," he said. "When the fire's completely around everything, you can't put yourself in a situation where you're going to get hurt."
Saving treasured mementos
Kasey DeMings knew the Gunning Cove department had to make decisions about which houses to prioritize for spraying with water. He also knew his house wasn't one of them because it was set down by the ocean, far away from the main road.
"You could get trapped down here pretty quick," he said. "That wasn't something that it was worth risking life over."
Eventually the smoke became thick enough that it was forcing the firefighters out of Gunning Cove, but DeMings knew his house was still standing.
Before he went back into the fire zone the next morning, his six-year-old asked him to grab the necklace that her aunt gave her. So he went to his house and grabbed it, along with a few other items. They were the final things he would carry out.
"Even that morning, I didn't believe that the fire was going to make it down here," he said.
DeMings plans to rebuild on the same spot. His house was insured, while his fishing gear wasn't. But other fishermen have come forward to offer traps, rope and buoys.
He takes comfort in the fact that his department saved more homes in the community than were lost. He hopes the small volunteer departments will get support to replace their old and damaged gear.
"There's a lot of houses lost and a lot of stuff lost, and just loss in general," he said.
"But we'll get through it, as long as we stick together as a community. I think that's the biggest thing now. We'll get through it one way or another."
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