Evacuees safe and sound in Thunder Bay, but still wait for next move

With forest fires burning less than five kilometres from his home, Aaron Rae just wanted to make sure his younger brother and sister were safe.

After being evacuated from Sandy Lake First Nation Wednesday morning, Rae said he is relieved that they’re safe, but sad that they were forced to leave their community behind.

"They’re breathing a lot better now," Rae said of his siblings inside a hangar at the Aviation Centre of Excellence Wednesday afternoon. "I’m here to fend for them. That’s my main goal right now."

The community’s main concern was making sure that the elders and young children were looked after.

After a total evacuation order was made for the community of 2,650 people Tuesday night, Rae said his family is under a lot of stress. But they are holding up well.

With host communities stretched from Sioux Lookout to Wawa, Rae said he doesn’t know where they’ll end up.

"I’m not sure where everybody else is going to go, but at least we’re somewhere safer," Rae said.

Evacuees were scattered throughout the humid hangar.

There was a constant drone of plane engines and a feint smell of jet fuel while they watched planes take-off and land. Children played on the floor with colouring books.

Red Cross volunteers provided medical attention as needed as some people lined up for bagged lunches and bottled water.

Standing next to two of his four children, Thomas Fiddler said he thinks the community will be just fine.

"It’ll be alright," he said as his children stood next to him hamming it up for a television camera. “(fire crews) will put it out."

Fiddler said his wife and children are doing fine and aren’t frightened. Even though they don’t know what city or town they might end up in, his family of six are in good spirits.

"I have no idea what we’re doing. I don’t even know where we’re going from here," Fiddler said.

Thunder Bay will act as a transportation hub for residents evacuated from the Far North as forest fires continue to rage, such as the ones near Sandy Lake 600 kilometres Northwest of Thunder Bay.

Local fire chief John Hay, who is managing the evacuation centre in the city, said although there were problems getting people out of Thunder Bay and into host communities Tuesday, the province has stepped up to provide some airplanes.

Now people are starting to get out of Thunder Bay once they come in, which was Thunder Bay’s role in the evacuation plan all along.

"We didn’t do so well yesterday with that mostly because we couldn’t get any planes to get people out," Hay said. "We’ll end up treating the people much better as we go through."