Brooke Kindel thought she was leaving her home in Denare Beach Sask., as a precaution last week.
She packed some clothes for her two children after a mandatory evacuation order went out, but never thought fire would reach her home.
“It felt like out of the blue. We thought the fire was fine. We were in our driveway getting our boat ready to go out on the lake because we thought everything was fine.”
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On Monday, Kindel and her neighbours connected through a Facebook page and watched door camera footage of fire engulfing home after home on her street. The footage confirmed what everyone already knew: their community was gone.
Brooke Kindel, who is 35 weeks pregnant, went into premature labor from stress after being evacuated from the Saskatchewan village of Denare Beach, near the Manitoba border. Village officials have confirmed the Wolf fire has devastated the southern part of the community.
Kindel said her home was the final one standing. Her neighbours watched with her as the temperature climbed in her Tesla car. Kindel said the car, which was left behind, recorded the outside temperature and they were able track the fire’s progress as the car got hotter and hotter.
“We lost power for about 20 minutes before my car exploded,” she said.
“That pretty much confirmed that everything in our yard was gone.”
Kindel, who is 35 weeks pregnant, left her home last week with her mom and her two young children within two hours of the evacuation order. They drove through the night to Hudson Bay, leaving her husband and father behind to fight the fires.
“All of our neighbours were outside, everyone was saying ‘where are you going, where are you going?'” she said.
“Everyone was carrying picture frames and stuff out of their houses and no one knew what to do.”
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says importing highly-trained firefighting resources from other provinces, territories and the United States is better than calling on the Canadian Armed Forces.
Kindel’s husband joined them at a family member’s home in Saskatoon after she went into pre-term labour, something Kindel attributed to stress.
Her father left Creighton, where he went during the evacuation, after it became clear the town was gone.
“He was sitting there listening to the radio and when he heard that it took our street, he just decided to leave,” Kindel said.
“There was nothing more than he could do for our town.”
Evacuation order
The final remaining firefighters and all essential staff were evacuated from Denare Beach on Monday after intense winds fuelled the Wolf Fire, threatening the town and anyone left in it.
A Facebook post from the Northern Village of Denare Beach Tuesday morning confirmed that everything south of 9th Avenue to the reserve was destroyed by fire.
Cell and internet service is offline, and phone lines are also down, according to a post on the village’s Facebook page.
The latest report from the village, which is home to about 699 people according to the latest Census in 2021, said the fire hall, administration building and Denareplex were still standing.
“We understand not receiving further information is frustrating, but please understand we feel as shocked, helpless as you all right now and are trying to navigate the situation as best we can remotely,” the Facebook post said.
The same post went on to confirm that members of the village’s fire department had escaped and were in Creighton about 19 kilometres away.
As of Tuesday morning, there were 20 active wildfires in the province, nine of which were not contained, according to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
About 8,000 people had been evacuated from northern Saskatchewan due to wildfires as of Monday.
Saskatchewan communities now under evacuation order or pre-evacuation alert:
- Air Ronge.
- Brabant Lake.
- Candle Lake resort village (voluntary).
- Clam Crossing.
- Creighton.
- Denare Beach.
- East Trout Lake.
- Eagle Point.
- English Bay.
- Foran Mine – McIlveena Bay.
- Hall Lake.
- Jan Lake.
- La Ronge.
- Lac La Ronge Indian Reservation.
- Lamp Lake.
- Little Bear Lake.
- Lower Fishing Lake.
- Molanosa.
- Napatak.
- Narrow Hills Provincial Park.
- Nemeiben Subdivision.
- Pelican Narrows.
- Piprell Lake.
- Potato Lake.
- Rabbit Creek.
- Resort Subdivision of Ramsey Bay.
- Sikachu.
- Sturgeon Landing.
- Sucker River.
- Timber Bay.
- Wadin Bay.
- Weyakwin.
- Whiteswan/Whelan Bay.
Up-to-date info on active fires, smoke and related topics is available at these sources: