Residents of Sandy Bay are heading home after evacuation orders were rescinded at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
Buses were waiting to transport evacuees from Prince Albert, Saskatoon, and Regina after a four-week stay in hotels, or with family and friends, according to a Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation (PBCN) Notice, issued Tuesday, Sept. 10.
“We are eager to see all of our members return home,” Sandy Bay Vice-Chief Justin Halcrow said in a media release. “The safety of our people is our top priority, and now that the conditions in Sandy Bay are stable, we want to ensure that every evacuee can return home and settle back into their daily lives.
“This has been a difficult period for everyone, and we deeply appreciate the resilience of our members and the efforts of everyone involved in keeping our communities safe.”
The trip home could take approximately 17 hours, Duane Hiebert, PBCN’s Emergency Response Manager, said during a media call on Tuesday.
The announcement ends a four-week evacuation for most of the 1,435 Sandy Bay community members. A few chose to stay in the community the whole time.
The Sandy Bay leadership said they made the decision and took the action “after careful consideration and consultation with fire, health and infrastructure experts.”
The decision is the beginning of the repatriation process for all the Sandy Bay evacuees.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) assessed the fire situation and deemed it safe to allow the rescinding of the Evacuation Order, which was originally set on Tuesday, Aug. 13.
The risk from the Flanagan fire is now low and all essential services, such as power, water, sewer, healthcare, and grocery stores are fully operational.
Buses began ferrying folks home beginning at 9 a.m. with four buses, one at each, the Heritage Inn and Quality Inn, and two at the Ramada Inn.
Additional buses are being scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11 and Thursday, Sept. 12 to transport the remaining community members.
The evacuation took two to three days to complete, Hiebert said, so the repatriation could take two, maybe three days to complete as well.
The Sandy Bay Health Centre and other health and support services in the community are fully prepared to care for Priority 1 and Priority 2 individuals, who may need extra care.
“Care packages and essential supplies will be distributed upon arrival,” reads the notice.
Those who stayed in hotels were asked to have all their belongings packed and ready, and to checkout from their hotel by 9 a.m. on Sept. 10.
Those travelling in personal vehicles may fill up with fuel at the PetroCan in Prince Albert beginning Tuesday morning. Everyone has been asked to have their details ready for the gas station as a line-up is expected.
The Notice, signed by Vice Chief Justin Halcrow, encourages evacuees to follow instructions and to “be mindful of others and take your time getting home -there is no rush, and we want everyone to return safety.”
In the Notice, Halcrow acknowledges the challenging time the four weeks of evacuation has been on everyone and expressed appreciation to everyone for their support.
Hiebert said life has been challenging for the last while, with long days, but he’s been able to get home at night for some shuteye.
He said he’s sure it has been much fun for the evacuees and they’re “ecstatic to be able to return home.”
The Merkley fire is still being assessed, meaning Southend evacuees remain in hotels in Prince Albert, Saskatoon and about 150 in Regina.
Hiebert said he’s looking forward to being able to bring good news to them, but the fire situation is not resolved enough yet for that to happen.
He also spoke about the 180 staff who have worked in “numerous stations across the province” to ensure the evacuees needs were met. But, it still meant that they also had to rely on the Canadian Red Cross (CRC), Prince Albert Grant Council (PAGC) folks to support them throughout the evacuations process.
When asked what made SPSA and PBCN confident the fire didn’t pose the same threat to the community as it had done when the evacuation order was called, Hiebert said, the weather changed.
Earlier, the hot temperatures and relative humidity created the weather conditions for a fire to burn actively.
“Those conditions changed now,” Hiebert said. “The temperatures in the evening and night are relatively cool so it takes a long time for the fuel of the trees to gain up. That cross over period of time is greatly reduced because it takes a long time for the fuel to heat up and for the moisture to burn off, so the opportunity for the fire to burn actively, or up in the crowns of the trees, is minimal.”
Although some post-secondary students in Saskatoon were able to access resources at the University of Saskatchewan to begin classes remotely, other students, who have been evacuated, have not been in the classroom this school year.
Northern Lights School Division (NLSD) has been planning for the return of students, Jason Young, NLSD’s Education Director, said in an interview with the Daily Herald, Sept. 5.
It’s been challenging with students in different hotels, different cities, “seven in Prince Albert alone”, he said.
In planning the return to school for Sandy Bay students, they have considered the emotional wellbeing of the students and staff following the evacuation, time for teachers to plan for the beginning of classes, and more.
The plan involves staff returning on Monday, Sept. 16, with Tuesday and Wednesday left for planning.
“Thursday we would have registration of all students, all of another day of planning on the 20th, because that helps us to know how to coordinate the schedules and make sure kids are in the right room and have the right plans in place for everyone coming back, and then everyone comes back on the 23rd,” he said. “That is kind of a timeline in both stress levels and needing some time to prepare.
NLSD has advertised Thursday, Sept. 19 for registration for Sandy Bay students.
In terms of folks returning who have health issues, in addition to the health centre resources, there is a clean air space with air scrubbers set up, which has been set up for some time throughout the summer, available in the community, Hiebert said.
