Most fire evacuees heading home
SASKATCHEWAN: A fleet of buses ready to transport remaining residents back home to their communities
SASKATOON — Evacuation centres in Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Cold Lake, Alta., are closing down as northern Saskatchewan’s evacuees return home.
With only two communities still threatened by wildfires, the number of people still receiving help from emergency social services is expected to drop to “a few dozen by Wednesday morning,” said Kerri Kempf, manager of information and emergency services with the provincial government.
The Red Cross helped more than 10,000 people over three weeks since the evacuations of dozens of communities began. Many stayed in shelters, but many others stayed in hotels, with family and friends or camped.
“This is the largest mass evacuation the Red Cross in Saskatchewan has ever dealt with,” spokesperson Chris Clemett said.
On Monday, 28 buses were ready to move most of the remaining evacuees — about 3,000 people — back home.
Special transportation arrangements are being made for elders and others with special health needs, but the smoke has cleared and the air is safe for everybody to come home, said Chief Tammy Cook-Searson of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band.
“People are happy to be home ... It was just a long time to be out, so some people were feeling frustrated for being out for so long,” she said.
Residents of the band’s Hall Lake and Clam Lake Bridge communities remain in the south as three crews fight a fire burning only two kilometres away.
“Wildfire management is making good progress ... there’s a lot of deadfall and it’s very thick bush, so they have chainsaws in there and helicopters and ground crews,” Cook-Searson said.
The province doesn’t have firm numbers of evacuees because many didn’t register with the evacuation centres before leaving in their own vehicles, Kempf said. It’s unclear how many people stayed in other accommodations, including ad hoc “rez cross” accommodations offered by several First Nations.