It was a beautiful day when we went to the road, north to the Ronge. The heavens were mostly clear, the air no longer smelled of smoke. It was the type of day that made it difficult to imagine the chaos that had developed only a few weeks before.
Forest fires, worsened by a dry spring, forced thousands of people from Saskatchewan from their homes.
With the worst of danger behind, at least for now, we wanted to see what was left behind, in the forests, communities and people’s lives, after the flames went ahead.
We begin to see the first signs of fire a few kilometers south of Weyakwin. Small burnt forest patches became large blackened stripes.
The sides of the roads were like cemeteries full of skeletons that used to be trees. At some points, the burned trunks leaned down and demolished as fallen matches. In others, the fire had burned so hot that only carbonized stumps were left.
The flames not only devoured forests. They also took houses.
Gregg Charles and his wife have been living in a tent in the backyard of a family member in Air Ronge. His cabin, 40 kilometers south of the town, burned on the ground.
“It has always been my home. My parents were hunters there,” Charles said.
“Sew, accounts, even a leather jacket [my wife] Made to me, all those are lost. “
Saskatoon tomorrow7:42Gregg Charles has experienced a lot of loss in life. Now you can add your cabin to the list
It is a place to call home. The forest fires burned his cabin on the ground and now he and his wife have stayed in a tent in the backyard of a family member in Air Ronge, without knowing what he follows. Gregg invited Theresa Kliem and Candice Lipski from Saskatoon Morning to pass.
Both were raised in a trap. He is not interested in staying in a city. He belongs to the desert.
Charles is optimistic that his life situation will improve soon. Your community is working to find a place for them.
“I am grateful that my wife and other family are fine, that’s the main thing,” he said.
“We can lose structures and things like that, we can rebuild. But if you lose a life, you will never see that person again.”
Memories in the rubble
Bob forward also has strong connections with the area.
His family began to come to Lake Nemeiben, just north of La Ronge, in the 70s. His cabin has been home away from home since then.
The sky was clear when we met him in a launch boat while preparing to check the cabin for the first time since the fire arrived. I didn’t know what it had left.
After a brief trip, the worst was confirmed.
“There is no cabin there,” he said forward while he stopped at his dock.
“It’s gone.”
He made his way through what was left, drowning while pointing part of a door that he built with his father -in -law. Near, some of his wife’s books were nothing more than to crumble.
So many memories, they left in an instant.
Unique Bob forward while checking its properties for the first time after a forest fire crossed the area of the Ronge, Sask. Find the left.
“It’s hard to see. There are many years of work here,” he said, blinking tears.
“All my relatives who would come from the United Kingdom, this is something they always wanted to do, is to come to the cabin.”
Bob said he doesn’t plan to rebuild. Once the area is cleaned, you will see if someone is interested in taking charge of the land lease.
“We know that it is climate change. I mean, we are probably a large part of what is happening here, because the boats and snow motorcycles are terrible with the fuel, right?”
Hope for Earth
Further south, in Air Ronge, Randy Johns had the strength of nature in his mind.
We met him outside Boreal Heartland, where he was busy updating with the orders delayed by forest fire evacuations.
The company harvests and produces teas, condiments and dry wild fungi collected from the boreal forest.
He took us to a place near the community that was beaten by the fire, pointing out plants that already took out the head of the burned patches.
“What the fire grass does is grow where there has been a fire, or the ground is disturbed, and prepares the forest for regeneration,” said Johns, pointing to a green leafy plant.
“The evolution of the boreal forest has been based on fire, based on fire. Therefore, it is certainly not new, and is part of the natural cycle.”
Johns is concerned that the fire cycle is changing and may become more frequent.
“If you had caught me a week ago, it would have been more emotional about it,” he said. “Now it’s about moving forward.”
One of the lucky ones
The call of a Loon welcomed Shelly Lawrence home. It had gone during the evacuation of the area around the narrow provincial park of Hills, where the fire devastated.
Saskatoon tomorrow6:23After the fire: surveying the damage of the northern forest fires with a business owner and resident of Piprell Lake and resident
Shelly Lawrence is told as one of the lucky ones. Until now, his business Rainbow Lake Lodge in Piprell Lake has survived the devastating forest fires, but others have not been so lucky. Large sections of the Hills narhon Provincial Park, including nearby camps, were very affected. Candice Lipski from Saskatoon Morning spent time with Lawrence this week, inspecting the damage.
Lawrence, co -owner of Rainbow Lodge in Lake Piprelll, still cannot believe that the shelter was saved. It is located as an island surrounded by a sea of blackened forest.
“We are very grateful that the resources were available to us, maybe because we were the first with the fire, but without that sprayer and those resources, we would probably not be here today,” he said.
It is a different story in a nearby camp, just two minutes by car.
You can see the contours of the burned camps, along with skeletal remains of campists, recreational vehicles, frames and sinks, surrounded by blackened trees.
Lawrence said he could talk to some of the firefighters who helped save the shelter.
“It was great to meet them and give them a hug,” he said.
“It’s hard to know how to return them, but we definitely want to move on and pay it.”
The Piprell Lake camp, northwest of the Strait Provincial Park of Saskwatchewan, was devastated by the shoe fire.
The provincial park is closed for campers this season, but Rainbow Lodge (which is located on the outskirts of the park) is open for business.
Lawrence expects visitors to continue making the trip. Your business depends on it.
Prince Albert National Park Protection
Visitors are also welcome at Prince Albert National Park this season.
Dustin Groedo, an ecologist of Vegetation and Fire from Parks Canada, is always thinking about how to protect Waskesiu and the surrounding land. It has been a dry spring, but the rain has brought some relief to the area.
It is important to protect sites such as the water treatment plant, Groedo said, so they eliminate anything that can feed a fire less than 10 meters around the building.
Another measure is the rupture of community fuel, just south of Waskesiu. They created a break in the forest, eliminating all conifers, to create a security zone around the city site.
Following the fires, what stands out is not only what was lost, but how people come together to rebuild, support and prepare for the next time.
“The last four or five years have been some of the largest forest fire seasons that we have found in Canada,” Groedo said.
“It’s something we are preparing for every year.”
