Reid Lake cabin owner recounts close call with fire

A Yellowknife woman is grateful she still has a cabin out at Reid Lake, and a green view of the water, after a forest fire came within 30 metres of burning it down.

"From the back of our cabin, all the way up to Cameron River rapids, it's all black," said Paula Bauhaus on The Trailbreaker. "There's no trees. There's no life out there. It's awful."

N.W.T. fire officials warned cabin owners of the fire on August 4 and ordered an evacuation of the Reid Lake campground, about 60 kilometres east of Yellowknife, on August 5. The fire remains a threat, with about 100 fire personnel on the scene. Highway 4 heading towards Reid Lake remains closed to traffic beyond the Cameron River bridge.

Bauhaus and her family saw the fire while spending August long weekend at their cabin, which sits in a row of four on the lake. "It was quite an experience," she says. "There was progressively more and more ash and debris falling from the sky."

By Monday evening, they were the last cabin owners there. Bauhaus recalls wiping down her barbecue with a paper towel and noticing it was "just black from the ash."

She'd also noticed water bomber aircraft and helicopters.

"One helicopter was circling around our cabin three times towards the end of Monday evening, going quite low," she said. "I thought that was our cue to leave."

As they were heading out, Bauhaus looked back. "You could see the whole back of the lake was really smoky. You could tell the fire had spread since when we came out on Friday."

'Then we started freaking out'

On Tuesday night, the family got a call from fire officials saying the cabin was not at risk, but asking if they had firesmarted.

The brush was clear for about 30 metres behind the cabin. Bauhaus says there was more brush that could have been cut, but they'd spent the weekend working on extending the dock to reach the water line and working on a new addition on the front.

It wasn't until Wednesday, after campers had been ordered to leave the park, that Bauhaus's husband looked at his iPad and found that the fire was just 1.5 kilometres away from the cabin.

"Then we started freaking out."

Right away, volunteers began arriving at Bauhaus's home bringing fire equipment, water pumps, hoses and sprinklers, as well as food. "Some people we didn't even know," Bauhaus said.

Her husband and youngest son headed out to the cabin. "I was praying because I didn't know what else to do," said Bauhaus, who stayed home with her eight-year-old daughter.

'My gosh, mom, it's like, red'

Bauhaus was on the phone with her youngest son when he saw a 60-metre wall of flame approach within about 30 meters of the back of the cabin.

"'My gosh mom, it's like, red. It's like, right there.'"

He reported that a team of firefighters had arrived by helicopter with equipment. Her eldest son and a friend also arrived by boat with more equipment. They managed to set up sprinklers just before the fire moved closer.

Bauhaus didn't get another report until five hours later, when she got through to ENR and learned they were doing a firebreak operation and had firefighters camping out by the four cabins.

An hour later, her husband and youngest son came home.

"I'm blessed," Bauhaus said. "I have a cabin and the front of the cabin, it's green."