More than 100 Fort Good Hope residents evacuate to fishing camp

After a wildfire triggered an evacuation order for Fort Good Hope, more than 100 residents headed by boat to a fish camp about 16 km down the Mackenzie River.

The fish camp was up and running before the wildfire started on Saturday. It quickly turned from a youth program into an evacuation destination.

Fort Good Hope Chief Collin Pierrot said in a press conference on Monday afternoon daily trips are being made to the camp to provide evacuees with groceries and clean drinking water.

“We just evacuated down to there because it was close by and we could keep in contact with what was happening here in the community,” said Fort Good Hope resident Arthur Tobac.

“Mostly a lot of us do have our boats, and we’re kind-of worried about leaving our boats behind.”

Arthur said prospector tents are set up at the camp, as well as a pump system that allows people to draw water from the river and a kitchen crew that has been hard at work.

Most people are spending their time doing daily chores to keep the camp running, said Arthur. Some people have been setting up and checking fishing nets, while others have been returning to Fort Good Hope to check in.

On Sunday evening, Elders told stories to some of the younger people in the group and taught them traditional activities like making snares.

“We’re looked after, we’re fed,” said Arthur, adding the camp residents had some geese for dinner at the camp to celebrate Father’s Day.

“I think the community leaders today mentioned that once all this is over, they will make the time to gather and have a feast and celebrate some success that is due to all of the hard work people put in,” said Arthur.

‘Papa, just get out of town’

The community’s leadership has arranged for boat shuttles to bring people back and forth to town to shower.

Jim Tobac, Arthur’s brother, is one of the Fort Good Hope residents shuttling people between the fish camp and the town.

He woke on Saturday morning to a phone call, then a siren blaring. He couldn’t see any smoke from his window but once he went outside, he could smell it.

“It smelled like a forest fire,” he said. “Then I was told that they couldn’t get [the fire], it was going to go out of control.”

At a town meeting that afternoon, Jim learned first-hand an evacuation order was about to be issued.

“I went outside and the siren was ringing. Police trucks were out, the bylaw trucks, fire trucks, everything was out, and all the sirens were on and people were told on the radio to just bring a little bit of stuff, like maybe one change of clothes and IDs,” said Jim.

Once residents had packed a bag, they were instructed to meet in a field about two to three kilometres away from the airport since the band office – which would have otherwise acted as the muster point – was too close to the fire.

Jim ventured out to help people in the field make their way to the airport to board Air Tindi and Summit Air evacuation flights to Norman Wells. Some 228 people boarded those flights on Saturday night.

At around 9pm, after most people had flown out, Jim received a call from his four-year-old grandson.

“He told me, ‘Papa, just get out of town. Just go,’ he told me, so I ended up just taking off.”

Jim had already prepared his boat and filled up his tank, so he spent the night helping to shuttle people to the safety of the fish camp.

On Sunday, he was back into the community, helping the 118 people who remained in town with firefighting efforts.

As of Monday evening, there had been no damage to structures reported in Fort Good Hope. NWT Fire has said that while the fire remains out of control, the current winds are pushing it away from Fort Good Hope.

Still, Jim expects to be in the camp for a little while longer.

“We know we’re going to be here for a bit more,” he said, “so we were talking amongst ourselves that we should try to make camp more comfortable, like more picnic tables and outhouses, and to help the kitchen staff out better by putting in more tables.”