A construction worker who curled up with his crew inside a smoked shipping container like a forest fire in northern Ontario Rodeted them said he is happy to be alive and back with his family in Brandon, about 215 kilometers west of Winnipeg.
The crew of 19 people, composed of Sigfusson Northern employees, a construction company based in Winnipeg, and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc., a hiring and construction company based in Langley, about 50 kilometers southeast of Vancouver de Vancouver in a workplace for a nation project project, a flight community, about 600 kilometers from the northwest Thunder Bay of Thunder Bay.
Each crew worker, except one, was from Manitoba.
When the work day started, Carl Genaille told his co -workers that he was worried that the forest fire of the Lake 12 network was approaching his camp.
That fire had more than 156,000 hectares of size and was still out of control, according to Ontario Forest Fire Map Monday night.
“I told them that this fire would be here very fast because I could see that the smoke was really black and then orange and mixed,” Genaille said in an interview with CBC News on Monday.
“The wind blew very hard, man, as very hard,” he said.
The fire was about 40 kilometers from the site morning on Saturday, the Superintendent of the Neal Gillespie site told CBC on Saturday night. He said the conditions worsened around 9:30 am and the crew began to pack.
Genaille, a former firefighter, told his team that they had to leave. Then the fire closed.
“We had nowhere to go to that camp area and the fire burned around it, full explosion,” he said.
He tried to move away from the fire in a shipping container, and the rest of the crew followed him. The sea can was full of thick smoke, but the outer fire was worse, he said.
In a scary video posted on social networks for his daughter Anika, it can be heard that Genaille tells the coworkers to be careful of the orange and trees height roared only meters away.
A crew that worked near Lake Sandy in the northwest of Ontario was surrounded by forest fires on June 7. After the helicopters could not see them or land due to the thick smoke, they used the main path to lead to a safe place.
“I was afraid and I didn’t think I was going to achieve it,” he said. “But I accepted it and began to help the boys and to calm them.”
Genaille said that his previous firefighters training went into action and put water in some blankets and made his colleagues put them on their heads so they could breathe more easily.
“[I was] Just thinking about my family, my children, “he said.” I was just telling them that I love them. ”
‘I thought I was going to lose my dad for that fire’
Back home in Brandon, his daughter Anika Genaille said she feared the worst, since she received heartbreaking videos from her father’s work site.
“After that video and he said I was scared, I simply started.
At 37 weeks of pregnancy, Anika said that she feared that extreme stress could have sent her for labor.
“I thought I was going to lose my dad for that fire.”
She said her father and crew should never have been in that situation to begin with, and she is angry that they were not rescued before.
“I’m glad they decided to leave when they did, otherwise they would have burned in that sea can,” he said.
Superintendent Gillespie said there were several attempts to get the helicopter crew, but that the smoke was too thick for the pilots to find them.
Approximately four or five hours later, part of the smoke cleared and there was an opportunity to get out of the camp and go to Sandy Lake First Nation, in whose project the crew was working.
“We left there right in time, but we should have been out of there as in the early morning or two days before,” said Carl Genaille.
QUORAGE AND SETABLE PROFESSIONALISM
In a statement sent by email to CBC News on Sunday, Sigfusson Northern said he sent the planes that picked up to Sandy Lake First Nation crew and took them back to Winnipeg on Saturday night.
The staff showed “notable professionalism, courage and quiet response,” said Sigfusson, added that the company’s emergency and security protocols were “critical” in this situation of forest fires.
He said he is providing advice and well -being services to the team affected.
In an email to CBC News, Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. rejected an interview, saying that it is focusing on “the security of the team, the community and all those related to our work.”
In Declaration published on Facebook On Monday morning, the company said that all its employees were safely evacuated. Milestone said that mental health and well -being resources are available for personnel affected members.
The publication of social networks said that the company is “actively exploring” ways to support Sandy Lake First Nation and other indigenous partners.
‘I’m happy that I have returned to Brandon’
Genaille’s family was waiting for him at the airport when he arrived.
He said he was shocked by experience but happy to be at home with his children.
“My girl came running towards me and jumped into my arms with a big smile,” he said.
Anika said: “I felt very relieved and happy to see his face, because I honestly thought he would never see him again.
“I am happy that I have returned to Brandon.”
Find the latest forest fire information in these sources:
Are you an evacuation that needs help? Contact Manitoba 211 Calling 211 from any place in Manitoba or email 211MB@findhelp.ca.
