Dryden residents home after evacuation from North Caribou

News — 27 July 2011

Much of the talk surrounding the fires of late has been focused on the evacuees from the northern communities threatened by smoke and fire. Thousands were taken from their homes and displaced in various communities in Northwestern Ontario.

Not everyone who was evacuated lived in a remote community, however. Eileen Brodhagen and her son Rob were at their camp when word came in they were being airlifted out to safety.

The 82-year-old began her trip to visit some friends in Pickle Lake in the beginning of July. The community was already accepting evacuees thanks to a large forest fire covering northern communities in heavy smoke.

The fires, growing rapidly, moved their way towards the community, burning down hydro lines in the process, cutting power to Picke Lake for the week that she was there.

On Saturday, July 16, Mrs. Brodhagen’s son Rob arrived to take his mom and two guests to their camp on North Caribou, 100 miles due north of Pickle Lake.

The travelers flew in on Northstar Air and were able to land at their camp.

“At the beginning, you could smell smoke and you could see it off in the distance and we were traveling through it, visuals were impaired but when we actually got over where it was burning, that creates its own climate…it was getting harder to breath and the plane was bouncing around.”

The smoke cleared out as they got closer to camp and the pilot was able to land the plane on the water. For the first few days, the weather was fine but the smell of smoke was always lingering in the air.

Monday, the group could see flames flaring up and pluming above the trees due to the excessive heat and began to realize just how close the fire was to their end of the lake.

Tuesday morning, the campers began to worry when the smoke rolled in and visibility dropped considerably, with the end of the dock fading into oblivion, less than 50 yards from the camp.

“It’s pretty scary when you can’t see the water and you can’t see anything because the smoke is that heavy,” says Mrs. Brodhagen.

Deciding it was unhealthy and unsafe to stay any longer, Rob called in to Northstar Air to have them flown out of the camp and back to Pickle Lake. Unfortunately, the plane was unable to fly and land in the smoke and the fire threatening the Musselwhite mine was lying in their path.

They were informed, however, that the MNR was aware that they were at the camp and were on the list to be airlifted by helicopter as soon as possible.

Five hours later, the MNR helicopter landed at the beach and the campers were told they were allowed just one bag. Rob opted to leave everything behind and loaded his dog, Luna, onto the chopper.

Unable to fly back to Pickle Lake, the helicopter was forced to land at the Musselwhite mine, which had already been evacuated and taken over by MNR fire crews.

“How Musselwhite is not totaled is beyond me. Those guys deserve kudos because the fire is right up to Musselwhite on both sides of the road…and the fire has burned on both sides of the road in most places.”

A van and an escort were waiting for them at Musselwhite when they landed and transported them back to Pickle Lake. They were able to stay there with friends until transportation could be arranged for them to leave again.

The Brodhagens were very happy with the way the MNR handled their evacuation as well as the support they received in Pickle Lake.

The camp on North Caribou is currently surrounded on the east, west and south sides by forest fires and there are still fires burning farther north. While their camp is not in immediate danger, other camps on the lake are not expected to survive the inferno to the north.

By Sarah Madussi

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