Fort McMurray teen rides horse out from wildfire evacuation
A teenager managed to get her beloved horse to safety as the wildfires spread towards Fort McMurray earlier this month the only way possible: under saddle, by the side of the highway.
"It was really something. My mind was full of different emotions, I didn't really know what was going on — and just the fact of having to get out, and there was no turning back," recalled Jada Polem, a Grade 11 student at Holy Trinity Catholic High School.
On May 3, as her family was ordered to evacuate with tens of thousands of others, Polem and her parents worried about what to do with their three horses.
"We knew that we were going to have a problem, because we only have a two-horse trailer," she said, adding Mya, her quarter-horse, was the most well-trained of the bunch.
"When we were getting ready to load up, Dad was like, 'put the saddle on, you're going to have to take her out.' I was like, well, i guess that's my only way out," Polem told CBC Radio's Corner Brook Morning Show.
Ride to safety
As her parents trailered the other horses, Polem rode alongside the traffic, trying to stay calm.
"We definitely got a lot of looks — everyone was looking, like 'holy!'" she said of the admittedly unusual sight, even in the midst of an unprecedented evacuation.
As the heat from the flames blazed around them, the equine convoy made it to a safe zone near the city's wastewater treatment plant.
"We got down and we untacked them, because it was 30 degree weather, so they were cooking," said Polem.
As the fires continued to spread, the Polems and their horses once again moved out of danger and arranged for a friend to trailer all three horses to safety south, where they are now staying on a farm outside Edmonton.
'Home' in Newfoundland
Polem is now not only separated from her horses, but also her parents.
After the evacuation, the family decided that Jada would head to her parents' hometown of Corner Brook to finish off the school year, while her father continued to work in Fort McMurray and her mother stayed near Edmonton.
The family spends summers in Corner Brook each year, and it seemed a natural fit.
"A lot of friends of mine were going to Edmonton for schooling, but I'd rather go to Newfoundland. It feels more like home. I'd rather be home than be in another new environment," said Polem.
She's settling in and plans to write exams in June, although with the fires continuing to threaten Fort McMurray, what will happen next school year remains uncertain.
"We'll either wait it out down here and see when we can go back, or figure out the plan of action for September."
With files from the Corner Brook Morning Show