Wildfire evacuees nervous about when they can return home

“It was really thick because you couldn’t see across the lake like you couldn’t even see across the street and in school you can even smell the smoke in the school so we got evacuated,” Cowan said. “I was scared, especially for my daughter’s sake just to get her out of there so she could breathe.”

Cowan said she expected a bus to pick her up at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, however delays pushed the pickup time to 2:30 a.m., and eight hours later they were in Saskatoon. Cowan said she’s in contact with her boyfriend who stayed back to monitor the situation. The province said in a news conference Tuesday the La Ronge fire isn’t threatening any homes in neighbouring communities.

Florence Cowan with her daughter, nieces and nephew at the soccer centre

Lolita Rovillard is another woman staying at the shelter. She said she was woken up in the middle of the night and whisked away along with 50 other members of the Stanley Mission First Nation just one hour out of La Ronge.

“I was at home sleeping and people came to my home telling me to get up, that we were being evacuated. I got my son dressed, packed my stuff and got evacuated,” she said.

Leaving her brother and her grandmother behind, she hopes she isn’t forced away from her home for too long.
“It’s lonely, I miss my home and my son misses my grandma.”

Shelter supervisor Joanne McClenaghan said she’s thankful for all the help from supporting social services such as the Salvation Army and the Saskatoon Health Region.

“The Canadian Red Cross is supporting the families on behalf of the government of Saskatchewan; the role of the Salvation Army is the feeding services; …the Saskatoon Health Region, they’re looking after any health concerns,” she said, adding compared to years past, most people staying at the shelter are in high spirits.

“Considering the situation these people find themselves in, leaving their home quickly and taken some other place, they’ve never slept in a shelter before – everyone is putting a brave face. What’s great to hear inside the building are children laughing and playing. We’ve done evacuations and used the soccer centre before as a site and we’ve never had as many kids as this and they’re a lot of fun.”

Two soccer fields inside are fully occupied but there are 200 more beds set up on another soccer field in case more evacuees arrive.

fbiber@rawlco.com

Follow on Twitter: @Notthebeebs

by François Biber

Wildfire evacuees nervous about when they can return home

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