SASKATOON, SASK. — Residents of a northern Saskatchewan community ravaged by wildfire say they are upset, disappointed and angry with a provincial agency they feel was ill-prepared to fight the blaze.
Members of Denare Beach, 660 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon, blasted Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency officials this week at a packed town hall in the nearby town of Creighton.
Residents asked: Why did provincial fire crews take so long to assist volunteer firefighters? Why weren’t there sprinklers? Where were the bulldozers and water bombers?
They also wanted to know why they hadn’t received any financial aid since being forced to flee about a month ago.
“There are so many of us in here that are hurt, were hungry and scared. We were totally broke,” a woman said at the meeting.
There were 218 personal residences that burned down in Denare Beach in early June, the agency has said. Statistics Canada data from 2021 states there were 411 private dwellings in the community of about 700 people.
A man who said he was a volunteer firefighter said he did not get help until the fire was at the village’s doorstep.
“Before that, we were sourcing our own sprinklers, breaking into businesses with permission to build our own sprinklers,” he said. “We had nothing.
“We are structure firefighters, we are not wildland firefighters, and we were left hanging.”
Another volunteer firefighter said he watched a group of provincial crews leave the village by bus.
“We were watching the provincial support go down the highway and (we were) not sure what to do,” he said.
“The leadership failed here.”
Marlo Pritchard from the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency told the crowd he deployed crews as quickly as he could.
He said winds quickly picked up to create a “firestorm.”
“I do know that we moved resources. Did we move enough of them? Obviously not,” Pritchard said.
The agency’s Bryan Chartrand later said crews didn’t know where the fire would breach because of the high winds. They were also dealing with raging blazes elsewhere in the province, he added.
“There was a very small window for us to engage this thing. We tried, we didn’t succeed,” Chartrand said.
At its peak, more than 10,000 people were out of their homes due to wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.
Cindy Ouellet, who was at the meeting, later said there was ample time to keep the wildfire at bay.
“This was pure negligence,” Ouellet said. “There’s a lot of feelings of failure in the area.
“The local fire department feels like they failed and I think we all do. No matter what we did, it wasn’t enough and it wasn’t fast enough to get the help we needed.”
It was revealed earlier this month almost half of the province’s water bomber fleet was grounded due to inspections, repairs and a lack of parts. A new air tanker also was not used because there were no trained pilots to fly it.
Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government also has been criticized for its handling of financial aid to evacuees. Provincial ombudsman Sharon Pratchler has said the province failed to provide immediate food, shelter and basic information to evacuees.
Following the criticism, Moe’s government announced it would provide $500 one-time payments to evacuees 18 and older.
“No financial assistance was provided to the residents of Creighton and Denare Beach evacuees until Tuesday,” Ouellet said.
Attendees at the meeting urged the agency to make changes so another community doesn’t have to suffer.
Pritchard said he takes responsibility for not providing timely financial assistance.
“I don’t have all the answers, but I can tell you that you are important. Everybody is important,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Prairies, officials in Manitoba said there has been rain in key areas, including Flin Flon, Lynn Lake and the Nopiming Provincial Park area. There are currently 19 active fires in Manitoba.
Four communities remain out of their homes, including some areas of Nopiming Provincial Park and Mathias Colomb Cree Nation.
Kristen Hayward, with the province’s wildfire service, told reporters that provincial travel and burning restrictions were expected to lift Friday morning. She also said evacuees who fled to Ontario have been flying home over the last week.
Manitoba has been experiencing one of its worst wildfire seasons in recent years. At its peak earlier this month, 21,000 people were forced to flee.
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