A Hare Krishna community in an off-the-grid patch of rural B.C. is among those that have been ordered to evacuate due to a fast-moving wildfire.
The Saranagati Village is located a 320-kilometre drive northeast of Vancouver in the Venables Valley where an evacuation order is in place due to the Shetland Creek wildfire.
According to a website for the community, about 30 families live there as off-grid homesteaders. The village is also home to a school, a temple and a cow sanctuary, in the faith’s tradition of holding them as sacred animals.
“We live normal lives, trying to farm, raise our children in an intentional community,” said Damodar Paquette, a community leader, in an interview with CBC Daybreak Kamloops Thursday morning.
WATCH | A promotional video for the Saranagati Village:
According to the village website, the community was founded in the 1980s by a group of followers who purchased the land, fully paying it off in the 1990s.
“Here they have built their own homes; piped in gravity-fed water from the mountain creeks; created their own electricity from generators, solar panels or hydro systems,” the website reads.
In recent years, they have also been adapting the community to be FireSmart, a program aimed at creating fire-resistant properties to mitigate the risk of losing homes during evacuations.
In fact, Paquette says, most of the village was at a FireSmart meeting when members noticed flames in the distance, and the evacuation order came through.
“The fire was raging down the mountain. We were all scrambling to get our essentials and leave,” he said. “I’m saying this with tears in my eyes.”
In all, about 60 people live in the village, said Paquette, and all have been taking the risks of wildfire seriously, following practices for clearing debris from the land and placing sprinklers on their roofs to try to protect their homes.
“I mean, forest fires are a reality and where we live, so we had a plan, and we executed it,” he said. “We’re hopeful.”