Latest news with #SigfussonNorthern
CTV News
7 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
Ontario wildfire forces construction workers to hide in shipping container
A wildfire burning near Sand Lake First Nation that surrounded a worksite a trapped 18 workers on June 7, 2025. (Anika Genaille/Facebook) Dozens of construction workers are safe after they were trapped by a wildfire near Sandy Lake First Nation in Ontario. Sigfusson Northern, a Manitoba construction company, said 14 crew members, plus four others with other organizations, were working at a site near the First Nation on June 7. 'At the time work began in Sandy Lake First Nation on Saturday, June 7, there was no evacuation order in place. Out of an abundance of caution, we initiated aircraft evacuation plans early that morning,' the company said in a news release. However, Sigfusson Northern had to pause the evacuation as the company said the area 'became inaccessible due to fire activity.' Video posted on social media shows fire surrounding the work site with moments of limited visibility. The workers hid from the fire inside a shipping container. 'Thankfully, as weather conditions improved later in the day, our aviation team was able to safely reach and airlift our workers and our partner organization's crew to safety.' Sigfusson Northern said the workers have been reunited with their families, and counselling is available to everyone affected. 'We commend our crews for their remarkable professionalism, courage, and calm response.' Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X Sunday that the Canadian Armed Forces have been brought in to assist with the evacuation of Sandy Lake First Nation.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Construction workers safe after huddling in shipping container as wildfire raged around them
The superintendent of a construction crew that sheltered in a shipping container as an out of control wildfire closed in around them says they're lucky to be alive. The 19-person crew — with all but one hailing from communities across Manitoba — had been working at a job site near Sandy Lake in northwestern Ontario. The site included workers from Sigfusson Northern and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. who were doing a project for Sandy Lake First Nation. Terrifying video posted to social media shows the massive flames and smoke leaping above the treeline against a red sky, just metres from where the group was huddled. "I thought we're going to perish, actually," said Neal Gillespie, who works with Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. Gillespie said the fire was about 40 kilometres away when the work day began on Saturday morning. The fire was quite a bit closer around 9:30 a.m. and the crew began packing up some of the gear in case they had to flee. "Things started to turn a little worse," he said. He said someone from Sandy Lake First Nation called them about putting in fire breaks, so they gathered some equipment together and moved toward a work camp 14 kilometres to the west. "As soon as we start getting our gear out there, within the next 45 minutes, that's how quick the fire jumped on top of us," he said. He said the group had to abandon their equipment, and gather together inside the 'very barren' camp area, following the emergency planning they'd been doing for weeks. They used the cargo container to get away from the flames and heavy smoke. "The fire came up and danced literally right around us," said Gillespie, adding that a few of the cargo containers around where they sat started to catch fire. "I thought we were going to perish actually. It wasn't good." They decided to flee the shipping container, and when they got out, part of it caught on fire as well. There were several attempts to get the crew out by helicopter but the smoke was too thick to find them or land, Gillespie said. "We had three Hueys [helicopters] come above our position, trying to locate us," he said, adding the smoke made visibility challenging. "They could locate the co-ordinates but they couldn't locate the camp itself," he said. After four or five hours and unsuccessful rescue attempts, Gillespie said the crew 'successfully' drove in a convoy to Sandy Lake First Nation along one of the area's main roads. "The towns [are] on very high alert. There's planes coming back and forth here like you wouldn't believe. And there's helicopters flying out here so it's quite bananas here right now." When Gillespie spoke to CBC news just before 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, he said nine workers had already left the First Nation in a Winnipeg-bound plane. The next plane taking the other half of the crew back to Manitoba arrived shortly after that. "Our crew is safe and sound," Gillespie said. As of Saturday night, the Red Lake 12 fire was more than 150,000 hectares in size and was still out of control, a provincial spokesperson said. "We woke up to just an orange sky with ashes flowing all over the place," Sandy Lake First Nation Chief Delores Kakegamic told CBC News on Saturday. Anevacuation order was issued for the First Nation on Saturday afternoon, with about 1,700 members being flown out as priority evacuees, Kakegamic said. She said they are headed to the airport in Red Lake, where they will be sent to either Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Toronto, or possibly Niagara. Kakegamic said a few members of the construction crew seemed "really traumatized" when they arrived at the First Nation on Saturday. On Sunday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X that Canadian Armed Forces aircraft and personnel have been deployed to support the "emergency airlift evacuations around Sandy Lake First Nation." Ontario fire information officer Alison Lake, who oversees communications for the Red Lake 12 wildfire, confirmed that all 19 workers are safe and have been accounted for. CBC News has reached out to Sigfusson Northern and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. but did not receive a response in time for publication. However, Sigfussonposted a statement to Facebook on Saturday night confirming its site had been affected by wildfire. "Our crews showed an extreme level of professionalism and courage in the face of a rapidly changing situation," the company's post said. "We are thankful that our crews are now out of harm's way and on their way home to their families." Gillespie said with every site they'd gone to in the past few weeks, they'd developed and practised a protocol for what to do in case of needing to evacuate due to wildfire. "What we did, what we trained for, what we had in place worked right to a T and probably saved our lives." Find the latest wildfire information at these sources: Are you an evacuee who needs assistance? Contact Manitoba 211 by calling 211 from anywhere in Manitoba or email 211mb@
Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Climate
- Edmonton Journal
Canadian Armed Forces deployed to assist northwestern Ontario wildfire evacuations
Article content It said the province's northwest region had 26 active fires as of Saturday night, seven of which were out of control. Videos and photos on social media showed one fire approaching a construction site near Sandy Lake First Nation on Saturday, with multiple cargo containers catching on fire and crews reportedly escaping the blaze by sheltering in one of them. Manitoba-based construction company Sigfusson Northern confirmed their crew was safely evacuated after they were working on a job site near the First Nation. 'Our crews showed an extreme level of professionalism and courage in the face of a rapidly changing situation,' the company said in a social media post. Other provinces, including Manitoba and Saskatchewan, are also undergoing evacuation efforts in some areas due to wildfires. The wildfires have prompted air quality alerts in Ontario. Environment Canada warned that smoke is causing poor air quality and reduced visibility in areas including Sioux Lookout, Summer Beaver and Ear Falls. The weather agency added that some northeastern areas, including Timmins, Kapuskasing and Attawapiskat, are under a special air quality statement Sunday due to the smoke.
CBC
a day ago
- General
- CBC
'I thought we were going to perish': Construction workers safe after wildfire closed in around them
Social Sharing The superintendent of a construction crew that sheltered in a shipping container as an out of control wildfire closed in around them says they're lucky to be alive. The 19-person crew — with all but one hailing from communities across Manitoba —- had been working at a job site near Sandy Lake in northwestern Ontario. The site included workers from Sigfusson Northern and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. who were doing a project for Sandy Lake First Nation. Terrifying video posted to social media shows the massive flames and smoke leaping above the treeline against a red sky, just meters from where the group was huddled. "I thought we're going to perish, actually," said Neal Gillespie, who works with Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. Gillespie said the fire was about 40 kilometres away when the work day began on Saturday morning. The fire was quite a bit closer around 9:30 a.m. and the crew began packing up some of the gear in case they had to flee. "Things started to turn a little worse," he said. He said someone from Sandy Lake First Nation called them about putting in fire breaks, so they gathered some equipment together and moved toward a work camp 14 kilometres to the west. "As soon as we start getting our gear out there, within the next 45 minutes, that's how quick the fire jumped on top of us," he said. Construction workers trapped by wildfire take shelter in a shipping container 34 minutes ago Duration 0:19 A crew working near Sandy Lake in northwestern Ontario was surrounded by wildfire on June 7. After helicopters couldn't see them or land due to the thick smoke, they used the main road to drive out to safety. He said the group had to abandon their equipment, and gather together inside the 'very barren' camp area, following the emergency planning they'd been doing for weeks. They used the cargo container to get away from the flames and heavy smoke. "The fire came up and danced literally right around us," said Gillespie, adding that a few of the cargo containers around where they sat started to catch fire. "I thought we were going to perish actually. It wasn't good." They decided to flee the shipping container, and when they got out, part of it caught on fire as well There were several attempts to get the crew out by helicopter but the smoke was too thick to find them or land, Gillespie said. "We had three Hueys [helicopters] come above our position, trying to locate us, it was that much smoke that they couldn't locate us." "They could locate the coordinates but they couldn't locate the camp itself," he said. After four or five hours and unsuccessful rescue attempts, Gillespie said the crew 'successfully' drove in a convoy to Sandy Lake First Nation along one of the area's main roads. "The towns [are] on very high alert. There's planes coming back and forth here like you wouldn't believe. And there's helicopters flying out here so it's quite bananas here right now." When Gillespie spoke to CBC news just before 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, he said nine workers had already left the First Nation in a Winnipeg-bound plane. The next plane taking the other half of the crew back to Manitoba arrived shortly after that. "Our crew is safe and sound," Gillespie said. Crews 'really traumatized': Chief As of Saturday night, the Red Lake 12 fire was more than 150,000 hectares in size and is still out of control, a provincial spokesperson said. "We woke up to just an orange sky with ashes flowing all over the place," Sandy Lake First Nation Chief Delores Kakegamic told CBC News on Saturday. An evacuation order was issued for the First Nation on Saturday afternoon, with about 1,700 members being flown out as priority evacuees, Kakegamic said. She said they are headed to the airport in Red Lake, where they will be sent to either Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Toronto, or possibly Niagara. Kakegamic said a few members of the construction crew seemed "really traumatized" when they arrived at the First Nation on Saturday. Ontario fire information officer Alison Lake, who oversees communications for the Red Lake 12 wildfire, confirmed that all 19 workers are safe and have been accounted for. CBC News has reached out to Sigfusson Northern and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. but did not receive a response in time for publication. However, Sigfusson posted a statement to Facebook on Saturday night confirming its site had been affected by wildfire. "Our crews showed an extreme level of professionalism and courage in the face of a rapidly changing situation," the company's post said. "We are thankful that our crews are now out of harm's way and on their way home to their families." Gillespie said with every site they'd gone to in the past few weeks, they'd developed and practiced a protocol for what to do in case of needing to evacuate due to wildfire. "What we did, what we trained for, what we had in place worked right to a T and probably saved our lives."
