It's just devastating': Wildfire evacuees using security cameras to watch homes as flames tear through

Doorbell cameras are giving wildfire evacuees a front row seat to the real time destruction in their community. Danton Unger reports.
Doorbell and security cameras are giving wildfire evacuees a chilling front-row seat to real-time chaos being caused by wildfires.
For some, the videos provide a glimmer of hope their homes are still standing, while for others it confirms their worst fears.
Cyndi Pedwell said she watched her doorbell camera Monday as flames ripped through her home in Denare Beach, Sask.
'We actually watched it happen until the internet was eaten up,' she said. 'It's just devastating. It just happened so fast and I think everything was just incinerated in no time.'
Jennifer Hysert dealt with a similar situation. Her neighbour in Denare Beach sent her a video of her home reduced to ash.
'I've been calling this fire the demon. And when this demon came through, it had so much power, it was unstoppable,' said Hysert.
'I think the most sickening feeling is not knowing. So whenever I had a lot of friends on the ground, and whenever I got any information, I was trying to share it.'
She isn't alone. For the hundreds of residents evacuated from the Flin Flon area, these cameras are providing them some of the most up-to-date information.
'Peace of mind is probably the thing we seek most and the thing we have least and we have no way of determining whether our property is there or not there,' said Valerie Gundersen.
She has been using social media to share footage from the cameras at her home in Creighton, Sask., letting her neighbours know that for now, their block still stands.
'It's one thing that I know I could trust,' she said. 'On my little piece of earth so far, we're still there.'
For Pedwell, this isn't closure, but she said these videos at least mean she doesn't have to wonder.
'It's hard to see, but I think it's just, I don't know, it's part of the process. Maybe it will help when we finally get to go back,' said Pedwell.

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Fire at Yellowknife apartment that displaced public housing tenants caused by smoking

CBC

an hour ago

Fire at Yellowknife apartment that displaced public housing tenants caused by smoking

Social Sharing Improper disposal of smoking materials was found to be the cause of a fire that displaced tenants of public housing from a Yellowknife apartment building in March. Saxon Chung, a spokesperson for the City of Yellowknife, wrote in an email that an investigation by the city's fire department into the Sunridge Place apartments fire determined it was accidental. The city said after the incident in March that the fire was contained to a single unit on the first floor of the three-storey building and that no injuries were reported. Sunridge appears to still be closed, with the windows at the bottom of the building boarded up and a note on the door saying the building's owner, Northview, is working with contractors to ensure the building is "safe and restored in a timely manner." The note says that Northview changed the locks and that anyone needing to access the building could call either their public housing organization or Northview itself. A large vacuum truck was outside the building along with a large dumpster on Tuesday. Multiple units in the building were used for subsidized housing, and the organizations that ran them have been making alternate plans for their tenants. Housing First, a program run by the Yellowknife Women's Society, leased five Sunridge units, three of which had tenants. Hovannes Nazaryan, the team lead for Housing First, said the organization received three replacement units from Northview and has moved tenants to those. "The last time I was there [at Sunridge], we cleaned all of our units out, we moved all the furniture that was salvageable, and basically everything else went to the dump," he said. Shortly after the fire, before the replacement units were ready, Housing First moved its tenants into hotels for acccommodation. He said they're still waiting for two more units, one for emergencies and another to accommodate additional tenants. Nazaryan said he's not sure when, or even if, those tenants will move back into Sunridge when it reopens. Bob Bies is the CEO of the Yellowknife Housing Authority, which had five units at Sunridge. The Yellowknife Housing Authority runs the operation of public housing units that are leased by Housing N.W.T., the territory's housing agency. Bies said they have no plan to return to the building, and they've set tenants up in temporary accommodations with the plan to move them to Aspen Apartments when construction on it is complete. Julie Carter was a former tenant of Sunridge through the Yellowknife Housing Authority. She was planning to move out the day after the fire forced the evacuation. Carter said she was put up in a hotel the first night she was displaced and then was expected to move into her new apartment. But she didn't have access to any of her clothes, food, or other necessities. "I have a completely empty apartment, I have absolutely no funds. How am I supposed to feed myself, feed my dogs, change my clothes?" she said. Carter said she convinced the Yellowknife Housing Authority to put her up in a hotel and that it took weeks before she was allowed to enter her old unit to gather what was salvageable. When the Sunridge building will reopen is unclear. Each housing organization said they were unsure and redirected the question to Northview. Northview did not respond to multiple requests for an update by email, phone and in person.

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Take care of your eyes amid wildfires and smoke, ophthalmologists urge