‘Holy cow.’ Fort Simpson residents return to changed landscape

Fort Simpson residents began to trickle back into the village on Saturday as a wildfire-related evacuation order was downgraded to an evacuation alert following 20 days away.

Residents expressed both relief and exhaustion after they were bussed from the airport to the village’s recreation centre, where they awaited rides home.

One evacuee, Robert Cazon, said he was taken aback by the damage he saw the wildfire had caused to the surrounding forest on his journey back to the village’s island.

“I couldn’t believe it when we were flying over, flying through that. Everything’s just burnt up – holy cow,” said Cazon.

“On the way back by bus from the airport to here, [to] see how much it just looked completely different … One guy said it hasn’t looked like this in 30 years.”

Cazon plans to survey more of the damage later this weekend, when the bugs might not be as bad.

“Weird-looking bugs coming out now,” said Cazon. “I’ve never seen bugs like that around here before.”

Several residents told Cabin Radio that the bugs seem far more present than they were before the evacuation, which was ordered in late June. Some wondered out loud if the fire had pushed them into the community.

On her flight home, Scarlett Okrainec-Cli said she could smell wildfire smoke seeping into the cabin of the airplane as it approached the village.

“It’s scary,” said Okrainec-Cli. “There’s some places that you can still see that was actually on fire, you see the orange.”

She said she wished some aspects of the return had been better planned.

One of the village’s directives was for residents to bring the supplies they’d need for the next three days. Meanwhile, she said, people on flights back had restrictions on the amount of baggage they could bring.

“They’re just really not making it make sense,” said Okrainec-Cli.

She and her partner initially weren’t going to register for the flights – “we had so many bags and we just didn’t think we’d be able to make it on the plane” – until at the last minute, someone told her an exception could be made and they were able to board.

In the future, she hopes more flexible transportation could be arranged for evacuees and their pets.

“My grandpa, he couldn’t go on the plane because we have a tiny little dog, and his vehicle wasn’t good enough to be able to drive anywhere, so he actually had to stay here for the whole time with my dog,” said Okrainec-Cli.

“There were people staying back and looking out for everybody’s dogs that they had to leave behind, so that’s good. But it just sucks that they have to stay here through all that.

“They probably had no idea what was going on, running loose. It’s affecting them too, it’s not like it’s just us.”

Okrainec-Cli imagines transitioning back to normal life could take some time.

“I was tearing up coming back,” she said, adding the landscape looks very different.

“It’s basically looked the same since forever, so just to have it change so dramatically over a couple weeks is intense,” she said. “Definitely going to be a long transition back.”

Smooth arrivals

Fort Simpson’s mayor, Les Wright, said the first ferry of the day – which left just after 8am – was full. The MV Lafferty, which provides the only road access to the village via Highway 1, carried half loads for the rest of the day.

“There was no backup in traffic or anything. Everything seemed to go smooth there,” said Wright.

He said flights appeared to have landed without issue as well, with 156 of the 160 people who evacuated to Yellowknife by air returning on Saturday.

“The majority of people are happy to be back,” said Wright.

“I guess some of them would have liked to have stayed for Folk on the Rocks,” he joked, referring to a major Yellowknife music festival taking place this weekend, “but that wasn’t in the plan.”

Brent Squirrel, who works in the village’s water and sewer department, helped transfer people’s luggage from the airport to downtown as they flew home.

He stayed in town during the evacuation to help with systems maintenance and said it was strange to see the village so empty.

“During the evening, especially, there was nobody out – it was just like a real ghost town,” said Squirrel.

“It’s just nice to have everyone home.”

Wright echoed that sentiment.

“I’m just happy to see everybody back, because Fort Simpson is the people, right? It’s all about the people, and I’m glad to have ’em back,” the mayor said.

He said most of the village’s services have been restored, including water and sewer. Garbage pickup will resume on schedule, though the dump has been temporarily relocated as the fire reached the previous site.

For now, the new site will be for village use only and closed to the public until it can be relocated back to the original site, Wright said.