A West Kelowna woman got to meet one of her heroes after watching him and his firefighting crew save her home during the early days of the McDougall Creek wildfire.
Marnie Endersby took to social media to share a photo of a West Kelowna firefighter trying to douse flames in her backyard as the wildfire threatened her home on the early morning of Aug. 18 on Pettman Road after she and her family were evacuated the prior afternoon.
The house was saved and the photo went viral after being shared on social media.
Endersby says she watched the family's doorbell camera to keep tabs on the fire and at one point in the middle of the night, she thought all was lost. Until she spotted two fire trucks and a team of firefighters arriving on the scene. The crew moved on after about an hour but one lone firefighter could still be seen battling the blaze with a garden hose.
“We just feel like he is our angel and our hero,” said Endersby, who stayed up until 4 a.m. to watch her home.
After putting the word out on social media, Endersby eventually connected with West Kelowna firefighter Sean Minchin, who was the lone firefighter in the now-iconic photo.
"It's one of those things you don't expect to be caught on camera doing that stuff," Minchin says.
"We are very glad that he was willing to take the time out of his busy schedule to meet with us and to represent the other West Kelowna firefighters. It was a great opportunity to say thank you for their hard work and dedication. It was also interesting to hear his account of how the situation evolved that evening and the challenges that they were facing," Endersby said.
The group went for dinner at Two Eagles golf course recently to break bread together and share stories.
"It was a good time. They wanted to be appreciative and everything. But you know, I don't really want anything for doing that. That's just what we do. So it was really nice to meet them and give back in that way," Minchin said, noting one of the most important things to him is to recognize the rest of the crew that was with him fighting the wildfire that night and into the next day.
"If there's going to be any publicity I'd like the rest of the crew to get mentioned because they all were there, they didn't happen to get caught on camera the way I did."
Minchin says the other firefighters on the scene that night were Trevor Gates, Scott Wasden and Mike Kay.
"I have framed his picture in our house so that we can always be reminded of the blessing that we received," Endersby says. "We asked how the community could thank the firemen and he said stopping by the firehall to say thank you in person or attending the upcoming firefighter appreciation picnic would be best."
Minchin says all the attention is nice but it's not the reason he became a firefighter.
"It's hard to go anywhere right now without people cheering you on in the fire truck and when you're in uniform. It's a lot of recognition that a lot of us don't want, or need. We just do it because it's our community and we love our community and we want to take care of it. But you know, it's nice to see the appreciative people. That's a good feeling," says Minchin.
