Daniel's bench is along the Enderby River Walk just north of the bridge at Cliff Avenue. It is facing the river, the first bench north of the southern end of the trail.
The tragic story of Daniel's death was included in the December 29, 2011 edition of the Vancouver Sun. The first page of the article is reproduced below.
Fallen B.C. firefighter
leaves new bride behind
VANCOUVER — As firefighters mopped up an early morning blaze at a log-home building business in Enderby, B.C., Thursday, volunteer firefighter Daniel Botkin was about to roll up the hose lines. It was about 5 a.m. and still dark, when the sky was lit by a sudden explosion, killing Botkin and injuring another firefighter nearby.
The accident in an otherwise routine fire call has shocked the close-knit North Okanagan town of 3,000, where Botkin, 29, grew up and joined the volunteer fire department six years ago. He was recently voted captain and training officer of the 24-member volunteer force and was moving up the ladder.
"He loved firefighting. It was one of his passions," Enderby fire chief Kevin Alstad said.
A newlywed, Botkin and his bride lived in Ashton Creek, just outside Enderby, which was close enough for Botkin to respond to fire calls. As a result, he was among the crew who rallied to battle the blaze in a massive metal and wood structure at Sperlich Log Construction — a log home building business on the north edge of Enderby, about 30 kilometres north of Vernon — at about 4 a.m. Thursday.
Firefighters knocked the fire down to a manageable level and believed they had it licked when the explosion rocked a free-standing storage container beside the burning building. The blast was so powerful that it shook the chair of Ray Baumbach, who lives six blocks away. "I thought it was an earthquake, it shook the whole house," he said.
Fire officials are still trying to determine what caused the blast. Vernon deputy Chief Jack Blair said firefighters had continually kept the container cool while battling the blaze, and didn't open the door.
"The force in that container was very dramatic," Blair said. "Five more seconds and (Botkin) probably would have been clear. They were just backing off, about to pick up their hose lines and out of the blue this occurred. This was just a very freak accident."
The structure was still smouldering until about 8:30 a.m. Thursday — four hours after it started. "There are posts standing, but the roof is gone," said Huck Galbraith, a salesman at Tim-Br Mart — a nearby building supplies store.
Ironically, Botkin had previously worked for the log home company, according to his grandmother, Sylvia Botkin, before he decided to pursue jobs in a fertilizer plant and lastly as a truck driver for the Alberta oil rigs because the money was better. The young man, who was always planning for the future, would work two weeks on, two weeks off, she said.
He was married just two months ago. "They haven't even got their wedding pictures developed," Sylvia Botkin said.
Botkin's family was gathering in his hometown Thursday, where friends and relatives remembered him as a hard-working and happy young man who loved the outdoors, especially quadding, snowmobiling and camping.
"He was awesome," Sylvia Botkin said. "He was happy-go-lucky, with lots of friends. He was liked by everyone."
Read more at the Vancouver Sun
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