Emokhare Paul Anthony
Daily Herald
Adult and Teen Challenge Canada suffered some major losses during the 2025 wildfire season, but that won’t stop them from rebuilding.
The faith-based drug and alcohol recovery program has a big task ahead of them as they try to replace and rebuild the structures and vehicles lost at their Denare Beach campus. Campus Manager Darryl Hartwig said the process is already underway, but it is in the early stages.
“We are definitely talking about it right now,” Hartwig said. “(We) just had a great meeting yesterday—about three (or) three and a half hours—sitting down with that the lead ATC team in Winnipeg here—the regional directors and on our TCO–and definitely our hearts are to rebuild. We believe in the work up in the north.”
The damage to the Denare Beach campus was extensive. The fires caused the complete destruction of the camp’s main building, along with a new vocational septic truck, trailers, and other program equipment.
Hartwig said the loss of the septic truck hurts the most. As part of the program, individuals could choose to be trained to use the septic truck, which would give them job skills to use when they graduated.
Hartwig said they don’t know exactly what the financial cost is, but it’s quite substantial.
“It looks like the campus never even existed,” Hartwig said when asked about the damage. “Right now, we’re just trying to sort through so many different aspects.”
Hartwig said when staff were evacuated, the fire was still 23-25 kilometres away from Denare Beach. They initially thought the campus was going to be okay, especially since winds were pushing the fires away from the campus at the time.
Despite the losses, Hartwig credited the crews that fought the wildfire for doing everything they could. With so many wildfires spreading across Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Hartwig said firefighters did the best they could.
“We are just so grateful. They did everything they could to protect our community,” he said. “As everybody knows, a big portion of Denare Beach was wiped out by the fire, but those firefighters were amazing trying to save it. Likewise, they worked so hard to keep Creighton and Flin Flon safe and so far they’ve succeeded there…. We’re just grateful they’ve kept people safe.”
Along with their rebuild plans, the campus is also sorting through insurance matters. They’ve also transported all staff and students to a campus in southern Manitoba.
Most are spread out between Winnipeg and Steinbeck right now, Hartwig said, but they’re committed to the vision of rebuilding.
Adult and Teen Challenge Canada is a 12-month faith-based residential rehabilitation program focused on helping individuals overcome substance addiction.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
editorial@paherald.sk.ca
