Four years of firefighter training and experience had prepared Cam Salmond to deal with fires in other people’s homes, but not entirely his own.
Salmond was left homeless after a fire destroyed his Delaney Road mobile home on Jan. 29.
For Salmond, it was a typical Sunday evening leading up to the fire. He says he was just relaxing, hanging out with his cat Checkers. Normally, Salmond goes to bed at around 9 p.m. on a work night, but he says he wound up staying up past 10 to watch TV. At a quarter past, Salmond was nodding off when he realized something was out of place. He says he heard a crackling sound and saw an orange glow coming from the front of the house. He recalls thinking, “That’s strange, I don’t have a nightlight.” As the crackling became louder, he knew exactly what was going on.
Salmond admits now that his firefighter training had not prepared him, mentally, for a fire in his own home.
“I knew I had a fire, but my brain wasn’t accepting it,” he says.
After unsuccessfully scouring the living room for Checkers (who has not yet been found), Salmond made his way to the front door, staying below the smoke.
“I reached for the door knob and couldn’t find it,” he says. Seconds later, Salmond was shocked when he heard his windows blow out, a sound he will never forget.
“It was just like, wow, and then the heat just went boom.”
Staying low, Salmond found the front door and opened it a crack to get out, but wound up venting the hot air inside and receiving a burn to his head. He thought, “this is stupid, this is where I’m going to die.” He then took a deep breath and headed down the hall, the smoke on his tail. With the fire raging only a few feet away, he managed to stop and put on a pair of jeans. He describes the moment as “surreal and slow motion.”
“I’ll never forget the sight of that fire in my living room,” he says. “It was just sitting there, churning like some malignant beast.”
As he was heading out the back door, Salmond’s fire pager went off – he was being paged to attend the fire at his own home. The flames were coming 30 feet through the windows at this point, and it was intensely hot. As a rule, says Salmond, you have three to seven minutes to save the trailers once they get going that hot.
Salmond was rushed to hospital in Salmon Arm, where his head was bandaged up. He was released soon afterward.
Salmond believes his training helped him stay calm, and to escape with little harm. While he was in hospital, his fellow firefighters spent the night knocking down the fire, and the following couple of days attending hot spots. Salmond says they did an awesome job. It was his own house fire that made Salmond realize how under-appreciated volunteer firefighters are.
“We do the best we can,” he says. “And you see things that you don’t want to.”
Salmond was one of the firefighters assigned to deal with hotspots at the Vollans/Wagner residence in January after a fire took the lives of father Daniel Vollans, and sons Devlin and Lealen. He says he didn’t sleep for a week after – that he was afraid to go to sleep.
Though Salmond is still shaken up by his own experience, he says he is greatly encouraged by recent comments from his fire chief, Joanne Held, who says the Malakwa Fire Department has seen a renewed enthusiasm and vigour since a fire ravished the home of one of their own.
“I’ll never quit” Salmond says of the notion of leaving the fire department after his personal loss. “It just gave me a better understanding of fire.”
Salmond laments some of his losses, such as the irreplaceable the keepsakes his four children made, and their grad tassels that he had hung on each of their baby pictures. But he is determined to stay positive.
“For everything there is a purpose… Maybe one day I’ll find out what it is,” he says.
Upon learning of the fire, Salmond’s son, Shawn, immediately left his Grand Cache, Alta. home for Malakwa to provide emotional support.
Various fundraising efforts are underway to help Salmond, who was under-insured on his house. This was a result of being told by his insurance counsellor that his coverage was too high. Now Salmond finds he won’t be able pay for half of the damage, noting it’s going to cost $9,000 just to remove the burned trailer.
Salmond says he is overwhelmed with the support he’s received since the fire, and is grateful, but he still feels awkward about receiving charity.
“I’d rather give, that’s why I’m on the fire department, to give back to the community,” says Salmond.
Regardless, Tamryn Koebel, owner of the Burner Restaurant and Lounge in Malakwa, says he’s going to get it, and that “he deserves it.” On Sunday, Feb. 12, the Burner is holding a firefighter’s special – a burger and fries plate – and half the $10 cost will be given to Salmond. Koebel has sent out a challenge to 36 fire halls to see who could bring the most firefighters to the day long event. The Malakwa department will be on hand as well to give fire safety demonstrations.
On Saturday, Feb. 18, a pancake breakfast fundraiser will be held from 8 a.m. to noon at the Sicamous and District Recreation Centre. From noon on there will be face-painting, raffles and safety demonstrations from area fire departments.
Koebel has also set on Facebook the page, “Help Volunteer Firefighter Cam Salmond,” through which donations can be made. Donations are also being accepted in a trust at the Sicamous branch of the Salmon Arm Savings and Credit Union.
