‘We don’t know where we’re going to go’

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This article was published 13/05/2024 (574 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Uncertainties brought Heather Murray to tears — not knowing where she and her family will stay or if they will have a home to return to, while a wildfire rages on Cranberry Portage’s doorstep.

Murray was staying in a two-bed hotel room in The Pas with her four children, including a 20-year-old son who has special needs and is fed by tube, and their pet dog.

“I’m looking at putting (my son) in the hospital right now, because we don’t have a place,” she said by phone Monday. “We’re running out of supplies. I’m really stressed right now.”

The northern community of about 600 people was evacuated Saturday night, after a wildfire rapidly spread toward it.

The out-of-control inferno was just over one kilometre away from Cranberry Portage Monday afternoon.

First detected May 9, the fire had grown to about 35,000 hectares, the province’s website stated. The cause was listed as natural.

When the evacuation order was issued, many displaced residents made the roughly one-hour drive south to The Pas, where a reception centre was set up at the Wescana Inn to register evacuees and arrange for accommodations.

A separate out-of-control fire was burning north of The Pas, threatening the community of Wanless.

“I know they’re doing the best they can. I’m hoping they can save our houses from burning.”–Dolly Charlette

Murray, a single parent on income assistance, said the cost of hotel stays will be covered for the first three days. With one day left, she was trying to find a place to stay temporarily that could accommodate her family’s unique needs.

“It’s scary, because we don’t know where we’re going to go from here,” said Murray. “My pride, I have a hard time asking for help.”

Murray, 45, and her children left Cranberry Portage after sirens went off. An orange glow and a massive wall of smoke filled the sky.

“We knew it was coming, so we had everything ready to go. When the sirens went off, we jumped in (my vehicle) and booked it,” she said.

Murray had just stocked up on groceries, including food that will spoil. Like others, she is worried about her home and how the fire will behave.

“The Pas has been very great to us in helping us and providing donations and food,” she said.

Evacuee Dolly Charlette said emotions are high, because residents don’t know when or what they will return to.

“I haven’t slept for 36 hours,” she said. “It feels very traumatic, the unknown. I’m trying hard to stay calm for my grandchildren and my children.”

Charlette and her mother, Heather Charlette, are among eight family members, aged seven to 70, who are staying with her sister, Val Charlette, in The Pas for the time being. The children’s education has been disrupted.

Grateful to be in a safe place, the family members’ thoughts were with firefighters who were trying to protect the community.

“I know they’re doing the best they can. I’m hoping they can save our houses from burning,” said Dolly Charlette.

As the fire drew closer Saturday, she comforted her granddaughter and tried to assure her nothing bad would happen to them.

“At the same time, I was terrified and thinking, ‘What are we going to do?’” she said. “‘Are we going to get stuck here?’”

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Before the sirens sounded, an RCMP officer told her it was time to go and to help spread the word, she said.

Heather Charlette, said the evacuation unfolded quickly, and she didn’t have much time to prepare.

“I didn’t believe it. I just looked at my grandson and said, ‘What?’” she said of the moment she was informed of the evacuation order.

Cranberry Portage has been affected by wildfires in the past. A huge blaze ravaged the community in 1929.

Heather Charlette is hoping the community will be spared this time.

“I’m too old to start over,” she said.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.