Dave Baxter
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Winnipeg Sun
The Chief of the Bunibonibee Cree Nation (BCN) said those fighting a wildfire near his community are confident they are close to getting it under control, and he believes some residents who have been displaced could start heading home before the end of this week.
“As of this morning it is categorized as being held, and by later today or tomorrow we expect it to be upgraded to under control,” BCN Chief Richard Hart said Thursday morning.
“There’s always the chance that something could change, but as of now I would say it’s more than a 90% chance it’s going to be under control today or tomorrow.”
A wildfire has been burning near BCN since Aug. 13, and an almost complete evacuation of the remote fly-in community’s approximately 2,500 community members began on Aug. 14, as the fire came as close as nine kilometres from the community.
The evacuation took approximately two-and-a-half days and included the use of several military CC-130 Hercules planes, with thousands of evacuees flown out of BCN, and placed in hotel rooms mostly in Winnipeg and Brandon.
According to Hart, firefighters have been making steady progress since it started and are working it to keep it away from the community.
“The fire line they have held has basically encompassed the fire, so the fire is still burning but at this point it essentially has nowhere to go,” he said. “And we are expecting rain so that’s going to be a big help as well.”
Hart added when the fire first began to get out of control, there were serious fears of it reaching the community and destroying homes and property and fears that evacuees could be forced out of their homes for several weeks or even months.
He said there is now a palpable sense of “relief” as they begin to let residents know they could be heading home soon.
“Everyone wants to get home,” Hart said. “It’s hard being stuffed into a hotel room, and for parents, it’s hard to try to keep the children busy when you’re all in such a small space together.”
According to Hart, when and if they do get the go-ahead to start sending people back, the process will take a lot longer than the one that got people out of the community in less than three days as the fire closed in earlier this month.
“It will be different, we won’t have the Hercules planes this time because it’s not an emergency, so we would work to get those who are essential back first to get things like the nursing station and personal care home up and running,” he said. “But as far as the general population goes we know it’s going to take some time, and we will have to charter aircraft.
“It’s a big job to move 2,500 people.”
The entire operation to get all evacuees home once it’s started could take between two and three weeks, Hart said, but most are just happy to know they could be going home soon, and that homes weren’t destroyed.
“It’s been a stressful time for a lot of people, and it could have turned out a lot worse,” Hart said. “Everyone is just happy to see that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
