YORKTON - Craig Bagley said he was watching his favourite hockey team – the Boston Bruins -- on TV the night when the call came at 7:20 to evacuate Fort Nelson.
By eight they were ready, having pre-packed much of what they left with in case the fire drew nearer.
The couple had their clothes, water, the cats and some personal papers – but the hurried retreat from the fire left Georgina Mercer’s mother’s ashes on a shelf, and most other personal items.
But expediency was a must, said Bagley noting there is only one road north and one south. If the fire engulfed the one south in particular where the townspeople might find refuge would be very limited.
While the notice was short, it was not unexpected.
Bagley said they had been aware of the imminent threat of fire.
“We could see it from the house,” said Mercer.
So the townspeople created a caravan of sorts headed south to safety.
“It was so orderly. I just thought it was fantastic,” said Mercer.
Within hours the community was all but empty, a few staying to protect sled dogs, or fight the fire.
“It was pretty much everybody,” said Mercer.
Ultimately, over the Mother’s Day weekend, the Parker Lake fire near Fort Nelson displaced more than 4,000 community members.
For Bagley and Mercer the option to stay in a hotel awaiting news didn’t make the greatest of sense given her back issues, so they stayed on the pavement east landing at his mother’s home in Yorkton.
“Everybody here has been fantastic,” said Mercer.
Now they await news.
The losses, if the fire were to get to the town would be massive.
“Some of them (families) have been there for generations,” noted Mercer, adding it can take decades to accumulate what is needed to be comfortable and secure in a community that is always isolated and a long way from the next community if something unavailable locally.
Now they wait to see if the threat – which appears quelled at present – flares up again.
Even with the threat reduced, it will be some time before residents are allowed back, said Mercer, adding essential services such as the hospital need to be operational, and in that case a thorough cleaning will likely have to come first.
“Before we get back it will need a scrub down top-to-bottom,” she said.
Grocery stores will need to be restocked too, before residents can head back.
And, there is the question of whether they will ever return – at least to stay.
Georgina said all last summer they were essentially on fire watch, and inside because of smoke. Some of those fires never extinguished over winter, going underground in muskegs, then popping back into open flames with spring.
And, she notes they have been displaced this time by a fire which is blazing earlier than the usual fire season, which leaves them wondering what may lie ahead.
A move home, Bagley lived in Yorkton until heading west in 1995, might be the better option, said the couple.
