FOG BLOG CANADA DISASTER NEWS LOG: BC WILDFIRES CONTINUE TO RAGE OUT OF CONTROL SOME LOSE EVERYTHING

Homeowner who spent years building off-grid cabin loses 'everything' in Keremeos Creek wildfire 'I could clean up my house with a rake,' says Les Mursza, whose property was reduced to ash Les Murzsa says he spent more than a decade focusing his time and savings on building the off-grid home he'd hoped to own for most of his adult life.

One project at a time, he renovated the wooden cabin at the south end of Green Mountain Road, near Keremeos, B.C., until there was only one job left: finishing up the new roof.

Murzsa was in the process of installing the last shingles when a wildfire swept through the area and destroyed the entire house on Friday, leaving its owner with nothing but a pile of ash.

"My house burned so thoroughly and completely, there is literally six inches of dust on the ground. It's completely gone," said Mursza, 50.

"I could clean up my house with a rake."

Mursza, who escaped and drove to a hotel, is the only person so far who has lost their home in what's known as the Keremeos Creek wildfire. The blaze, burning about 21 kilometres to the southwest of Penticton, is still estimated at almost 28 square kilometres in size — an area six times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park.