An Cinderella’s wooded area is just meters from Flora Northwest’s house in Samson Cree Nation.
She is grateful that she is still standing.
He had taken half a day on Friday to take his grandson to the city. On his way home, he said his grandson saw a forest fire.
The flames were high and extended quickly, Northwest said. She and her grandson were not at home five minutes before the fire consumed an abandoned house and her brother’s house, then moved to her house.
“Come on, we have to leave,” Northwest recalled exclaiming his grandson.
They rushed to their vehicle to leave, he said, when the firefighters arrived, saving his house.
“It is very difficult to get a home here. It is very difficult to obtain renovations here. Burning houses like that is not fair for the family, because we do not have that kind of money for housing,” Northwest said.
“We are very lucky to have our houses.”
A forest fire around Maskwacis, high., Approximately 80 kilometers south of Edmonton, burned four houses on Friday: the two in Samson Cree Nation and two others in the neighboring nation of Ormineskin Cree.
The fire, which caused the Maskwacis Fire Department to declare an emergency state, took hours for multiple agencies firefighters to control.
In a publication on social networks on Friday, Samson Cree First Nation said that all those affected went to the Howard Buffalo Memorial Center in maskwacis. The SCN and the Red Cross were available to help the evacuees, and any person who needed more information could call 780-585-3012.
Northwest said he helped his sister, who lives with disabilities, evacuated his home.
According to the 511 Alberta, Highway 611 between 2 miles of road and 3 miles in Samson Cree Nation closed due to the nearby grass fire. Those roads reopened around 9 pm
The captain of the Millet Fire Department, Justin Rider, could see the smoke of his city, approximately 30 kilometers north of Maskwacis.
“When you see a smoke plume like this, it’s scary,” he said.
“Seeing something of that size, that is incredible in our area.”
Eight different fire departments helped fight the fire, according to a Samson Cree Nation Facebook post. Rider said his department sent a crew around 4:30 pm on Friday.
According to a Facebook publication from the department, three Mijo Firefighters were sent to the scene with an oil tanker and the department, according to a Facebook post of the department. Rider was on the scene, where they worked to prevent the flames from spreading, he said.
“It was huge,” Rider said.
He has heard different size estimates, but said the flames covered approximately 1½ kilometers wide and more than six kilometers long.
“For seven [other] The departments to which they will
From 3:45 pm on Saturday, Alberta’s forest fire board shows that there are 23 active forest fires throughout the province.
Much of the province is under some type of fire exemption, according to the board. Ponoka County, including maskwacis, is under a fire notice, which indicates a high risk of forest fires in the area, but does not prohibit absolutely any flames.
Rider urged people in the area to avoid burning grass or garbage, and make sure any prior winter burn is completely extinguished, especially during wind conditions.
“You don’t need much,” he said, noting that a spark “can create chaos as he did yesterday.”
Northwest is worried that someone from Samson believes Nation has not realized that the notice is in force.
“In our culture, fire is supposed to be sacred, and fire kills. Fire destroys,” Northwest said. “Look what happened to our trees, to Mother Earth.”
“It was scary,” he said, adding that one of his grandchildren was traumatized.
She is not sure when her brother can get another house, she said, but he has received help at the emergency center.
