La Loche residents return home for first time since wildfire evacuation

People from La Loche were returning home Monday after they were forced to leave last week as a wildfire approached their town.

The evacuation orders for La Loche and the Clearwater River Dene Nation were lifted Sunday.

“It’s extremely positive for the community members to return,” La Loche Mayor Georgina Jolibois said Monday. “Early (Monday) morning the buses arrived bringing our residents home. People are happy to be home.”

The buses carried 149 people. Others fled and returned to their community using other methods of transportation.

Jolibois said thanks to hard work, first responders were able to save the town from suffering any major damage.

“There were two neighbourhoods (and) the fire was literally on their doorsteps,” she said. “Thankfully with quick decisions and quick action, no houses were burned, but it was literally at the fence line for those two neighbourhoods.

“The ground is scorched (and) several sheds were burned. There are a few homes that the fire came so close that you could tell it was quick decisions that the houses were saved. You could see it was literally about to burn.”

Jolibois noted she’s 100 per cent confident residents in her community are safe.

“The local resources are doing a last-minute mop-up,” she said. “We do pray that we don’t have to face another situation.”

Many people were asking why people from La Loche had to travel to Regina as opposed to somewhere closer like Saskatoon. According to Jolibois, it was because Regina was the one place where a large number of hotel rooms could be booked.

“The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, who was on the ground with us, said there are other communities experiencing wildfires and they had to evacuate,” Jolibois explained. “To book (a large number of) hotel rooms, they were able to do so at the Ramada in Regina.”

Meanwhile, air quality alerts remained in place for areas of northwest Saskatchewan. Environment Canada said areas around La Loche, Clearwater River Provincial Park, Buffalo Narrows and Beauval were still dealing with smoke from wildfires in that region as well as from the fires burning in Alberta.

According to the provincial government, there were 20 active fires in the province as of 4 p.m. Monday. More details on the wildfires in the province can be found on the SPSA’s website.

In an emailed statement, the SPSA said it has not deployed any personnel to Alberta, but is sending equipment such as pumps, hoses and radios to help with that province’s firefighting efforts.