Latest news with #devastation
CBC
a day ago
- Climate
- CBC
Cabin owner documents 'haunting' destruction of East Trout Lake, Sask., by wildfire
Nathan Pitka says it was a difficult journey up to East Trout Lake, Sask., to see the absolute devastation to the townsite. He had seen the drone footage released by the province last week that showed an overhead view of the flattened cabins, but it didn't fully prepare him for what it was like on the ground. "What we saw was haunting," Pitka said in an interview on Tuesday. "We were at a loss of words to what we saw. The entire community had been devastated. There wasn't a single structure standing in the community." Poor internet connection? CBC Lite is our low-bandwidth website. Pitka's extended family had five cabins at East Trout Lake, about 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert. He had gone up there last month and planned to spend the summer there, like usual. But when the evacuation order from the resort subdivision came on May 21, he packed up and left. WATCH | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners: RAW | First look at devastation for East Trout Lake property owners 55 minutes ago Duration 1:39 Some property owners whose cabins and homes at East Trout Lake were burnt by the Shoe fire got a first-hand look at the charred rubble. One week later, Pitka got the news that the Shoe fire had burned through. That fire is still the biggest one burning in the province, last measured at more than 400,000 hectares as of Tuesday morning. Pitka has been staying in Saskatoon. On Saturday, he travelled up to East Trout Lake to document the devastation for himself and the other cabin owners. He shared the footage from his dashcam with CBC News, showing the journey up past Candle Lake and through the forest. "We thought it was important for ourselves, but also to let others in the community see the extent of the damage and devastation," Pitka said. He described areas of scorched forest with nothing but stumps. The sky was dark with smoke and fires were still smouldering in the ditches. Piles of metal and concrete are all that's left of the cabins. He took photos of each site to share with other cabin owners, so others wouldn't have to make the journey. Pitka said he and his family are grieving the destruction at East Trout Lake, which is "more than a location" — it's been the gathering site for his family for nearly 50 years. "I think I'm speaking for a lot of the residents that are out there," he said. "These have been multi-generational cabins and used year-round for connecting with the land and escaping the stresses of life." His family is working on how they're going to stay connected this year, without their beloved gathering place. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) president Marlo Pritchard took a moment at the start of his daily briefing to acknowledge the "fear of the unknown" for those waiting to see what will happen to their homes, and the loss that others have already experienced. "I really want to acknowledge and give my thoughts and prayers to those that have been impacted directly, or indirectly, of these fires," Pritchard said. "There's a number of individuals that have lost property; we've had a number of individuals evacuated … that are sitting, waiting to hear whether their property has been impacted." On Monday, parts of the Northern Village of Denare Beach were consumed by the Wolf fire as it encroached on the community, near the Manitoba border in the province's northeast. La Ronge and surrounding communities were evacuated Monday as the Pisew fire approached from the north. Evacuees reported scary, long journeys south in convoys through flames and smoke from two other fires in the area — the Shoe and Ditch02 fires. About 8,000 people have been evacuated from northern Saskatchewan due to wildfires so far, according to the SPSA. As of Tuesday afternoon, there were 21 wildfires burning in the province and the year-to-date total is 230, far above the five-year average of 132 fires for the same period.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Mom of missing girl Alisa shares heartbreak after discovering what she told 3 'pedophiles' before she vanished
The mother of a missing girl who ran away to meet an alleged pedophile has shared her devastation after discovering what her daughter told them before she vanished. Alisa Petrov, 15, has been missing since April 21 when she disappeared without a trace after being dropped off at school in Utah.
CBC
23-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Lac du Bonnet wildfire evacuees return only to find 'barren, black wasteland'
Some residents of the RM of Lac du Bonnet have returned home for the first time since the community was evacuated more than a week ago, only to find nothing but rubble left. The return of between 850 and 1,000 people who were forced to leave the community on May 13 began Wednesday evening as firefighters contained the wildfire near the eastern Manitoba community. Twenty-eight properties in the rural municipality were destroyed according to the RM. The now-4,000-hectare blaze has left vast stretches of land in the community, such as Wendigo Road, unrecognizable. Brad Wood's home on Wendigo Road was one of the properties destroyed by the fire. On Thursday, he was touring the property for a third time since the area opened to residents. Wood said seeing the devastation hasn't gotten any easier. "Every time I get in, I feel even more, I guess, heartbroke," he said. "If you look at the before pictures with the flourishing forest, the vibrant people … you just look at this and just wonder like how does that survive?" Wood built the home himself and he hoped he could move there when he retired. He said construction had just wrapped up last year, and he and his wife were just beginning to enjoy the property when the fire burned it to the ground. "There's several others on the same boat here who'd recently just finished working or were almost completed," he said. "Now you're right back to even worse than starting over." 'It's very different. It's very sad' Paula Johnson, who lives in Grausdin Point, returned Thursday. She said her area was completely missed by the fire. "It's very different. It's very sad," she said. "A lot of people … we knew them and, of course, they lost their places. You almost have survivor's guilt because your place made it and theirs didn't." Residents of Mascanow Drive, Shauman Lane and Sunlee Road were the latest allowed to return to the community. The evacuation order in those areas was lifted on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Lac du Bonnet emergency co-ordinator is asking residents to sign up for the CONNECT emergency alert system before they return home, and to prepare go-kits so they're able to leave with two hours notice. Wood said about 18 homes and cottages on Wendigo Road were destroyed by the fire, in addition to garages, sheds boats, cars and other property. Wood, who worked as a firefighter for 30 years, said he's never seen this level of destruction. He said people who've lost their homes are only beginning to make their insurance claims, and that it may take several years to rebuild. "A lot of us that we're dreaming of retiring here in the future, those aspirations may not come to fruition just strictly because the forest will not come back in that time," he said. "You look out at the lake, it's beautiful. The water's untouched. But you look to the forest behind me, it's just a barren, black wasteland." Some Lac du Bonnet evacuees return to find homes destroyed by wildfire 2 hours ago Duration 2:30 People near Lac du Bonnet are getting their first look at the devastation left behind from a wall of a wildfire in the eastern Manitoba region. After more than a week, some evacuees returning to the area are finding there's nothing left to see, as fire destroyed 28 properties in the area.
CBC
22-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Some Lac du Bonnet evacuees return to find homes destroyed by wildfire
People near Lac du Bonnet are getting their first look at the devastation left behind from a wall of a wildfire in the eastern Manitoba region. After more than a week, some evacuees returning to the area are finding there's nothing left to see, as fire destroyed 28 properties in the area.
CTV News
22-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
‘Shaken to the core': Lac du Bonnet evacuees return to find rubble for homes after wildfire
Wildfire evacuees in Lac du Bonnet, Man. are coming to terms with a new reality. The community they left behind just over a week ago is now unrecognizable. Liane Ross-Martin lost her cabin on Wendigo Road in the wildfire. 'Devastation,' said Ross-Martin. 'I have said that word and typed it so many times in this last week. We are devastated as a community, as property owners.' She saw what's left of her property for the first time since evacuation orders were put in place in the wake of an out-of-control wildfire early last week. Liane Ross-Martin Liane Ross-Martin lost her cabin on Wendigo Road in the wildfire. Ross-Martin and her family have been on Wendigo Road for six decades. Her parents started camping in the area in 1965 and built their first cabin in 1967. 'From there, they moved to the lakefront area, right here in 1971, the year I was born,' she said. 'My husband and myself built brand-new in 2019.' She says she has made so many memories over the years with family and friends. 'The lake has always healed us,' she said. 'The tubing, swimming, the friendships that our neighbours have brought forward into our lives,' To say Ross-Martin is emotional is an understatement. 'We raised our child out here,' she said. 'He was out here digging through the rubble with us today. His memories are as much as mine are.' 'I don't think you ever expect to see something like this, and it has shaken us to the core for certain.' The once vibrant neighbourhood has turned to a barren wasteland, with several homes and cottages lost in the fire. Forests now look like black columns, parked cars are now charred metal, and shingles, from what once served as protection on a home, has turned into dust. Brad Wood, who is just a few doors down from Ross-Martin, was at a loss for words looking at what was once his cabin. 'It was a beautiful green forest. Just surreal to look at it right now,' he says. 'In all honesty, how do you overcome this? This is such a loss.' Brad Wood Brad Wood's cabin was completely turned into rubble. It is not just property that was lost on Wendigo Road. Sue and Richard Nowell died after they were trapped near their home in a wildfire last week. RCMP Manitoba said they were aware the couple were trapped in the fire, but emergency personnel could not reach them due to extreme conditions. 'Everybody is sharing the same grief,' he said. 'It's heartfelt all the way from the top to the bottom.' 'It's heartbreaking': Residents call for better safety measures As terrible of a tragedy it is, Wood said it could have been worse. 'We had no preparedness, no warning. No advanced notice,' he said. 'There is no cell service here. That is detrimental to any form of safety or emergency evacuation program.' Wood says neither RCMP nor emergency response members knocked on any of the doors in the neighbourhood telling residents to leave. He says he heard of the evacuation order from neighbours. 'I don't understand it. We at one point at had cellular Wi-Fi, but at one point (Manitoba) Hydro killed the power to this area, so even if you were somewhere on this grid, you would've lost your power, Wi-Fi, cell phone boosters regardless, so if you were a bit further up, you wouldn't have gotten any notification outside of a neighbour.' Wood is calling for better planning and notification systems and hopes the Manitoba government would help residents like himself who lost everything. Wildfire Burned car in Manitoba's Lac du Bonnet area. 'We're hoping the province comes to us. We could sit at the table as stakeholders here and try to come up with a program. Maybe they will work with us. Maybe we could evolve something good from this,' he says. It's the same situation for Ross-Martin and her family also want to see better safety measures implemented. 'There are many things that have to change before we can feel comfortable rebuilding,' she said. Ross-Martin says it's important at this time of grieving that everyone remains 'Wendigo Road Strong,' adding, 'If we don't band together and have our voices be heard, there's no point in any of this.'
