“Many families are leaving their home and don’t know if they will have the opportunity to go back there.”
Aidan Jaager
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Phones are ringing off the hook at the Days Inn in Prince Albert, says manager Samir Patel.
The hotel has become a home-away-from-home for many of the evacuees from La Ronge and area who were told this week to head 240 kilometres south to Prince Albert.
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency issued an evacuation order Monday for around 7,000 residents of La Ronge, as well as those in nearby Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band after a wildfire breached the town’s airport. Among those affected by the order were 53 acute-care patients and long-term care residents from the La Ronge Health Centre and care homes, who the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Canadian Red Cross worked to move.
Patel said dozens of evacuees from La Ronge arrived at the hotel starting Monday night. All of its rooms were quickly occupied with at least four evacuees in every room, sleeping on extra air mattresses and cots.
“The staff are really stressed out, but we are all so excited to help the best we can,” Patel said.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on Tuesday said more than 15,000 people across the province have fled encroaching wildfires, and more are likely as the fires continue to rage.
In addition to those in La Ronge and area, more than 8,000 registered evacuees have been displaced by fires in the province.
“Many families are leaving their home and don’t know if they will have the opportunity to go back there,” Moe said.
Moe said the biggest destruction has been in places like the northern village of Denare Beach, where some family homes have been lost.
The SPSA said more than 400 structures have been lost in the province as of Tuesday.
Moe said flames took out the SPSA’s tanker base in La Ronge, as well as its communications base at the airport. None of the tankers were burned, he said.
According to the SPSA, the wildfire was growing out of control at over 83,630 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon.
Moe said the province is working with the federal government and the RCMP to determine whether military support is needed.
Derek Cornet, a La Ronge resident and reporter for local news outlet larongeNOW, said it’s the second wildfire to force out local residents in 10 years.
“People had a bit more of a head start in the 2015 (wildfire),” he said.
“This one took a lot of people by surprise because the winds are just so strong right now, and the fire moved so quickly that a lot of people just weren’t expecting it to arrive as quickly as it did.”
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A small crew of health-care providers, physicians and nurses remained in the community to sustain basic emergency services.
Saskatchewan Health Authority chief operating officer Derek Miller on Tuesday said officials had been discussing and planning as far back as the weekend a potential evacuation of the La Ronge Health Centre and surrounding care homes, “knowing that there was a potential risk for us.”
Miller said the evacuation discussions had to quickly change from planning to transporting patients and residents due to the fire’s aggressive nature.
“When (moving patients and residents by air) wasn’t possible due to the fire and smoky conditions, we transitioned to a land evacuation. We used buses and local ambulances in La Ronge in order to move patients to Elk Ridge. From there, we met up with individual ambulances to transfer them out through to hospitals and long-term care homes across the province.”
— With files from The Canadian Press and Nykole King, Postmedia Network
