Seniors forced to flee B.C. wildfire found safe due to Apple AirTag, help from strangers

Two sisters from out of province learned on Saturday that their parents had been forced to leave their care home in Summerland due to an out-of-control wildfire. "I woke up to my sister texting me; she lives in Nova Scotia and I'm in Florida, with a link to the wildfires saying that the whole town of Summerland has been evacuated," Helen Gonzalez explained to Global News.

"So we called their cellphone, which they don't really use very often. Of course, there's no answer." Their parents had been evacuated from the Seniors Village in Summerland overnight on Friday. Gonzalez remembered their dog, Christy, had an Apple AirTag attached to her collar, so she tracked her location to the Penticton Convention Centre.

"I figured they were probably safe," Gonzalez said. "But then I started worrying about, does he have his medication? Does he have his hearing aids?" Her father suffers from lung cancer and her mother has memory loss. Gonzalez made an appeal on a community Facebook page, and people began reporting that her parents were found safe and welcoming at the convention centre.

One neighbor to the convention centre found Gonzalez's parents, provided them with a comfortable bed and food, and facilitated a phone conversation with her. The Bald Range wildfire had led to the evacuation of 238 seniors from two long-term care facilities in Summerland. Richard Harding, chief operating officer of Clinical Operations IH North at Interior Health Authority, mentioned that the rapid change from alert to order required prioritizing the evacuation of individual residents.

A helpline has been established to help families connect with their loved ones in long-term care. Gonzalez expressed her gratitude to the community for their support.