Judith Hutchinson-Lepore
August 06th, 2025
When the McDougall Creek wildfire tore through West Kelowna in August 2023, author Judith Hutchinson-Lepore was among 35,000 residents evacuated from their homes. Her memoir Finding the Phoenix: An Evacuee’s Harrowing Story of Fleeing the McDougall Creek Wildfire (Orion Press $19.99) recounts that terrifying experience—day by day, moment by moment. From the initial scramble to pack up and flee, to the long, uncertain weeks of displacement, Lepore captures the trauma, resilience and emotional toll of living through one of Canada’s worst wildfire seasons on record. What begins as a story of loss becomes a broader reflection on neighbourly compassion, survivor’s guilt and the strength of a community rallying together. A longtime writer and former newspaper columnist, Lepore previously worked in film, radio and television before turning to novels. Finding the Phoenix reached #1 bestseller status in Amazon’s Canadian Western Provinces Biographies & Memoirs category within a day of its release. 9781738277810
Read this book and lived the trauma all over again as a survivor of this fire. Judith has captured all of the feelings that each of us experienced. Truly a gifted writer….a must read.