Evacuation co-ordination getting smoother

The evacuation of thousands of remote Northern Ontario residents hasn’t been without its bumps, says Thunder Bay’s fire chief.

However, John Hay on Thursday said the co-ordination of the flights into and out of Thunder Bay has gotten much smoother as forest fires continue to ravage lands surrounding both Keewaywin and Sandy Lake First Nation, located some 225 kilometres north of Red Lake.

Other communities affected include Wunnumin Lake, Kingfisher Lake, Cat Lake, Koocheching, Eabametoong and North Spirit Lake.

Hay said it wasn’t always the case during the first two days of the evacuation, which has seen more than 3,000 airlifted from their homes, including nine Hercules plane loads of residents transferred in Thunder Bay alone.

Each plane holds about 100 people per trip, Hay said, noting at the time only two planes had landed on Thursday.

“One of the big constraints on us was not having the availability of outbound aircraft after the inbound aircraft came in,” Hay said, standing outside the tarmac fence behind Confederation College’s Aviation Centre of Excellence, where an Air Quebec plane was loading up another load of passengers eager to move on to temporary quarters elsewhere in the province.

Hay said turnaround times have been improving as co-ordination efforts got better.
“We’ve been able to move people really quickly, really efficiently, with accurate numbers and accurate manifests,” he said.

Police presence was also stepped up on Thursday, in response to requests made by the displaced First Nations residents.

Only people with appointments or arriving in an official capacity were allowed on site, and media have been kept out of the hangar area where those being transported are being processed.

The mood has been surprisingly good, Hay said.

“Our guests have been exceptional. It’s a credit to all the communities. The majority of the guests are from Sandy Lake. I believe we’re going to get some from Kingfisher later today. But all the guests we’ve had so far are amazing. We haven’t had one single complaint from somebody that’s been delayed, inconvenienced, had to sit on a plastic chair,” he said.

“We’re doing our very best to provide them with nourishment, cold water, washroom facilities. Yesterday we even had a little entertainment … for the children.”

Sandy Lake First Nation band councillor Joe Kakegamic said the efforts to date have met their needs and more.

“It’s been good so far,” said Kakegamic, who is also the First Nation’s community liaison to Thunder Bay’s Emergency Operation’s Control Group. “The support has been there. Under the circumstances our people are handling it well. Their biggest concern is where their family members are.”

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Mike Metatwabin, in a release issued on Thursday, encouraged family members to reach out to the Canadian Red Cross if they’re not sure where their loved ones might be.

“This is one of the biggest forest fire threats NAN has witnessed in a long time and people aren’t sure what to do or where to go when their loved one is threatened,” Metatwabin said in the release. “The Canadian Red Cross is working to record which community each evacuee is from and which host community they have been relocated to and where they can be reached.”

Canada Post is also helping out to ensure evacuees get their mail. Keewaywin letters and parcels are being re-routed to Geraldton for pick-up by transplanted residents, while Cat Lake residents’ mail will be held for them at the former Crown corporation’s Dryden distribution centre. Plans are still in the works for other First Nations affected by the fires, which number 112 as of Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile City of Thunder Bay officials said the storm that ravaged its way through the city on Wednesday night did not hamper the evacuation efforts.