THUNDER BAY - After being forced from their home community for a month due to the ongoing threat of forest fires, members of Deer Lake First Nation are on their way back home.
“They are all happy to go home. It was 31 days here,” said Kevin Anderson, captain of fire prevention with Thunder Bay Fire Rescue. “We kept them safe and entertained and they are very thankful for their time here but they are also eager to get home.”
Nine flights with Wasaya Airways were expected to depart throughout Friday, transporting more than 300 Deer Lake First Nation evacuees back home.
Deer Lake First Nation was among several remote communities forced to evacuate due to heavy smoke from nearby forest fires.
“The risk of fire is greatly diminished,” Anderson said. “The smoke was a big thing and now it’s all cleared up so now it’s safe for them to go back. There was no damage to their communities because the fires were many kilometres away.”
Evacuees from Popular Hill First Nation left earlier this week, along with members of Pikangikum First Nation.
Anderson said there are still some members of Pikangikum First Nation in the city, and other members of Deer Lake First Nation who self-evacuated and are now driving to Red Lake to catch a flight.
Communities across Ontario hosted evacuees during what has been one of the worst forest fire seasons in the northwest in a decade due to hot and dry conditions throughout July.
Evacuees have been in Thunder Bay for 31 days, which is longer than usual in terms of an evacuation.
“It was a little bit longer. Usually it’s less than a month,” Anderson said. “It just took time for the smoke conditions to get better and we did get some rainfall.”
“It was a very dry July and August we had some rain, which was good. Hopefully it will stay that way but you never know. We will be ready if anything needs to happen again.”
