A Keremeos resident and Oliver business owner is operating his restaurant while being evacuated due to the Crater Creek wildfire, along with caring for eight kids alongside his wife.
Sean Donovan, the owner of Baby Rae’s Pizza in Oliver, said his wife received an evacuation alert on Tuesday night and 20 minutes later, it turned into an order.
Donovan had three kids with him working at the restaurant, and the other five were with his wife.
"We left the restaurant. We didn't even get to go home. We ended up in a motel in Keremeos," he said. "From what I understand, it was pretty frantic [for those at home], just a few minutes to get off the property there."
Donovan said at this time they have everything they need, and their family is spread between three rooms at the motel.
"The older children and I are still working, so we're coming to Oliver. And my wife is taking long drives with the AC because it's so smoky you can't take the kids outside."
He added that he's grateful he can still work at this time since the restaurant is their livelihood.
"So the fact that we can still earn an income even if we can't go home, there's some comfort there."
Having driven by their property, Donovan said it looks like the danger has passed for their home from what he can see from the road, but they're still out on an evacuation order for the time being.
"The hope is that we'll get the okay to go home. ASAP. Get back to normal," he said. "We're okay, and carrying on and we're resilient. So we'll get through this."
