Art Peralta spent his Monday morning amid the fire-ravaged ruins of Lake Okanagan Resort.
More than just a vacation destination, the resort was home to about 20 strata owners.
But that all changed when the McDougall Creek firestorm destroyed most of it on the night of Aug 17.
Parelta was at work with the Wilson's Landing Fire Department that terrible night.
"When we were running from the fire because it was an awful night, we ended up here at the resort at 5:00 in the morning," he said.
"We stayed here until 6:00 when the fire came in."
He said they tried to protect the resort as best they could, but eventually, they had to get out.
"We left the resort with the fire about 50 metres from us."
Peralta said he and his crew stopped about a kilometre and a half away where they could observe the fire's progress.
"From there, we saw the resort burn."
Rebuilding will be difficult because it's partly out of his hands.
Infrastructure elements like water, sewer and electricity are operated by the resort.
"And they haven't done anything," said Peralta, who points out that the situation is further complicated because there are several different strata groups at the resort.
"There's a lot of unknowns still, that we don't know what's going to happen before we get a home."
According to Parelta, three houses survived the fire completely as did some hotel and townhouse properties.
"The rest is gone," he said.
Seeing his home in this condition has been every bit as hard as you might expect.
"It is hard, especially when there is going to be such a long time to rebuild."
He had recently renovated it and was proud of how beautiful it was.
And he is determined to see it beautiful again.
"It will be," said Peralta, "We will rebuild."
