For Marie Bilheimer, watching the devastation caused by the Los Angeles wildfires is emotionally difficult.
The Kelowna woman spent 31 years living in Los Angeles before moving to the Okanagan in 2019.
“All of my family that live there still, they were all evacuated. Everyone we know was evacuated,” said a tearful Bilheimer. “Luckily my family are all safe. They were just kind of on the fringes, but nearly every friend that we know lost their house.”
Her former Altadena neighbourhood has been decimated.
“The street that we lived on with all of our neighbours where my babies were born, that was our home, that’s where we started our family, that house is gone,” Bilheimer told Global News. “That whole street is gone. The whole neighbourhood around it is gone. The parks we would walk to are gone.”
Bilheimer is familiar with the feelings of fear stemming from an out-of-control wildfire.
She vividly remembers when embers from the 2023 McDougall Creek wildfire went flying, igniting fires too close for comfort.
“It was just a couple of years ago that we saw the hillside … on fire and coming down,” Bilheimer recalled. “We were just on the edges of the evacuation.”
Living in a wildfire-prone area, combined with her connection to L.A., has prompted Bilheimer to launch what she hopes will be a huge bottle drive to help support three families who lost homes in her former neighbourhood.
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Area resident Reena Yost saw the details of the bottle drive on social media and instantly decided to help.
“We were here for the Kelowna wildfires just over a year ago. We weren’t evacuated, so it did not affect us in that way,” said Yost. ” … just feeling the energy of the community, the fear, the loss, it’s just so nice to see how everybody comes together in times of need.”
The bottle drive is taking place now until January 25. The two drop-off locations (Kelowna Dance and Fitness at 1634 Harvey Ave., and West Kelowna at MGM Stone on Kyle Court) are open during business hours.
For express bag tagging, enter 250-718-1815.
“It’s just nice to feel like you can help and contribute even from a distance and just showing the humanity of people,” said Bilheimer.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
