‘It’s our turn.’ Fort Smith, evacuated in 2023, opens doors to Wrigley

Fort Smith residents endured one of the longest evacuations of the NWT’s nightmare 2023, leaving home for more than a month. Now, the town is welcoming evacuees from elsewhere.

The first flight from wildfire-threatened Wrigley arrived late on Monday afternoon, bringing the opening couple of dozen evacuees.

Wrigley is at least a 10-hour drive from Fort Smith, at the opposite terminus of the territory’s main highway network. Driving also carried the risk of going near or through active fires on Highway 1 toward Fort Simpson, so many Wrigley residents opted to fly.

Fort Smith has turned part of its recreation centre and arena into an evacuation centre.

“We know this isn’t easy. Leaving your homes on short notice without knowing the date you will return is something we haven’t forgotten from 2023,” said Mayor Dana Fergusson, who spent the 2023 evacuation posting daily videos from Fort Smith to keep residents updated.

“We remember the communities and people who showed up for us,” Fergusson said. “Now it’s our turn.”

Daniel Wiltzen, Fort Smith’s information officer for the evacuee hosting operation, said space had been set aside at the Pelican Inn and Northern Lights care home for evacuees with particular needs.

“Fort Smith has really banded together, even in the past few hours,” he added. “We have a full dinner for them set up, as well as food for tomorrow, snacks, water, everything that they could need is being provided for them. This has been a huge collaborative effort, and it’s really great to see the community come together in this way.”

Fergusson said the opening-night meal for evacuees was homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

“We’re serving that till the last plane comes in tonight and then we’ll start with the rest of the food services scheduled for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she told Cabin Radio on Monday evening as the town awaited a second flight with 35 more Wrigley residents.

The town is opening up its pool to evacuees for free from 1pm till 7pm on Tuesday. Fergusson and Wiltzen were each excited to welcome evacuees to Wednesday’s Canada Day activities, too, which include a parade at 12:30pm and barbecue from 1:30pm.

“We’re very excited to have some additional participants in our festivities,” said Wiltzen.

Fort Smith is also contributing to firefighting efforts in the Dehcho.

The town’s protective services division said on Monday its volunteer members Dave Porter, James Bambalan and Dane Wright had travelled to Fort Simpson to work on wildland-urban interface firefighting, attempting to protect homes at the village’s edge.

Fort Simpson, a Dehcho community like Wrigley, is also under an evacuation order.

Alice Twa contributed reporting.