Out of the ashes, a new beginning

Lara Agapow (center right) and Tristan Vanderklok (center left), workers from B.C. Wildfire Services, are married at Camp Riske Creek, B.C., on Aug. 19 during Operation Lentus. Photos by Cpl Blaine Sewell, MARPAC Imaging Services

Lt(N) Paul Pendergast
Op Lentus Land Task Force (Pacific) Public Affairs ~

Saturday, Aug. 19 was a special day at the Riske Creek fire camp in B.C.’s fire-ravaged Cariboo region. It was the wedding day of Tristen Vander Klok and Lara Agapow, and although they had been working side-by-side for over a month managing the Riske Creek equipment warehouse for British Columbia Wildfire Services (BCWS), they took a few hours off to say their vows, with Army vehicles from Operation Lentus providing the backdrop.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. The young couple travelled from Alberta to the home of Lara’s parents in Hanceville, B.C., on July 7 to finalize their Aug. 19 wedding plans. Within five hours of their arrival, all arrangements for rings, dresses and flowers had to be put on hold as a major forest fire erupted near Lara’s family home.

The young couple spent the next week fighting fires 24/7 alongside Lara’s parents, saving their family home, and most of the nearby homes as well. Lara’s father, Juri Agapow said, “Our neighbours in the First Nation community of Anahim were a tremendous help. They fought the fire with us, brought us food so we could keep fighting the fire, and they even fed and watered our pigs.”

When BCWS offered Tristen and Lara jobs, they decided to relocate to from Alberta to Hanceville, and when the fire season is over, they intend to settle there permanently and take up cattle ranching.

Father of the bride, Juri Agapow, is a Canadian Ranger, who is part of the Operation Lentus force working nearby in Williams Lake.  When the Canadian Army personnel deployed to Riske Creek heard that the young couple planned to go ahead with their wedding in the middle of the fire camp, they offered a Light Armoured Vehicle as a backdrop, and then everything quickly fell into place.

“Lara and I are so grateful for the way the Army stepped up and became a part of our wedding,” said Tristen. “This is a day we will never forget, and we couldn’t be happier.”

The future looks bright for the newlyweds, but their new life together will have to wait until the fires subside and the dry B.C. summer hopefully turns into a wet and rainy autumn.