70 fire evacuees get OK to head home
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2017 (3129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Douglas Flett corrected himself after saying he missed everything about the St. Theresa Point First Nation home he was forced to flee late last month.
“Except,” he said, with a smirk, “the forest fires.”
On Sunday, four planes landed at the Brandon Flight Centre to take home 70 St. Theresa residents who stayed in Brandon hotels as part of the Canadian Red Cross’ mass evacuation effort after wildfires threatened their homes.
In total, the relief organization registered 1,068 evacuees from St. Theresa Point. The vast majority were brought to Winnipeg, with 70 evacuees in Brandon and a small handful brought to Thompson. The majority of people were sent home on Sunday, with additional flights scheduled today.
Looking out at the tarmac, Flett was relieved to return home after 11 nights in the Wheat City.
“I miss my home, I miss my bed.”
His stint in Brandon was busy since he acted as the point person between the Canadian Red Cross and the 70 St. Theresa Point evacuees given Brandon lodgings.
“I was always on the go.”
When he’s home, Flett will relax and visit with relatives who were either sent to Winnipeg during the evacuation or stayed behind.
A father of six, Wayne Harper said he felt “displaced” in Brandon. Though he was with his wife and kids, he was hours from extended family.
“Home is home,” he said. “You got to go back to where you belong.”
His family was the last from St. Theresa Point to leave to Brandon, flying off in a twin-engine plane late Sunday afternoon.
All 820 forest fire evacuees in Brandon, scattered among 14 hotels, arrived on Aug. 30. The residents of St. Theresa Point are the first ones cooped up in Brandon who were given the all-clear to head home.
Leadership from St. Theresa Point and the federal government determined it was safe to go back home, the Red Cross said.
The large-scale evacuation consisted of residents from
St. Theresa Point, as well as two other communities in the Island Lake: Wasagamack and Garden Hill First Nations. The Red Cross has not provided a timeline on when those residents can expect return flights.
But for a couple dozen people kept in Brandon, Sunday was the day they had been waiting for.
“I’ll be fishing by tomorrow,” Flett told Red Cross staff as he boarded his plane.
» ifroese@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ianfroese