No smoky campsite refund

Photo: Twitter - @bubbasnowboards

Smoky Skies in Christina Lake, Aug. 24.

A Kelowna woman with an asthmatic son is looking to get her camping fees reimbursed after an evacuation alert and a smoky skies advisory kept her and her family away from the campsite.

Rhonda Langford booked an end of summer camping trip at the provincial park at Christina Lake three months ago for this weekend. She paid $100 for the three nights and the two other families they were going with did the same, for a total of $300 between all of them.

Langford said once the heavy smoke hit the area, and an evacuation alert was instituted, they waited until the last minute to cancel, hoping it would clear by the weekend.

It never did, and by waiting, they missed the one-week notice cancellation period.

“We phoned and they won’t take any cancellation, they won't give us any money back because it is in that seven day period,” said Langford. “Because it’s only an evacuation alert, it says on their (website) ‘No refunds for wildfires.’”

Langford then submitted a medical request to the province, in an attempt to recover their costs based on the smoky skies and her son’s asthma.

“I can’t put my son through it,” Langford said.

According to the BC Parks website, “BC Parks will only consider issuing refunds for serious medical reasons that prevent customers from honouring their reservation.”

Langford said BC Parks wouldn’t accept her request.

The Ministry of Environment said that pre-existing conditions, like asthma, aren’t grounds for a refund.

“If you went camping to a campground and you had asthma, there would probably be a reasonable expectation that there would be campfires going and that could aggravate your asthma, so that wouldn’t be a situation where we’re going to be giving people refunds,” said David Karn, media relations with the Ministry of Environment.

When questioned about the difference between a smoky skies advisory and campfire smoke, Karn said anyone who reserves a camping spot must check a box that ensures they have read the park policies on reservations, and should know that asthma would not constitute a valid medical reason for a refund.

In addition to the medical concerns, Langford said she doesn’t feel safe camping under an evacuation alert.

“If you’re under an evacuation alert you’re not going to want to camp, because if you even have a drink you can’t drive,” Langford said. “We’re families but you know, the boys will have a drink, and we can’t get our stuff all gone in a matter of minutes … so we just decided to cancel.”

Three campsites sat empty at Christina Lake this weekend, paid for by Langford and her friends.