Northern Saskatchewan couple loses brand new sweat lodge to fire

It was a two-year project that took only one day to destroy.

Sid Fiddler and Mary Heit helplessly watched their newly built sweat lodge go up in flames, Wednesday, in Waterhen Lake First Nation.

It was more than just a building. It was my husband's dream.- Mary Heit

The couple had just returned from an errand run about an hour away at Meadow Lake. They were making preparations for a grand opening ceremony over the weekend.

"We just saw it as we were coming up our driveway," explained Heit. "It was coming out of the peak of our roof at the front, but it rapidly spread so quickly. Pretty soon the whole [lodge] was in flames."

Heit said when the fire engine arrived, firefighters were unable to save the building. They were only able to contain the flames so it wouldn't spread to the surrounding area

"It's similar to when you hear somebody die and you get that feeling, 'Oh no!' You know? You're not wanting to face that possibility and it's just — that's what you initially have to go through and process," said Fiddler.

According to the couple, the fire was a careless accident. Fiddler had started the wooden stove inside of the sweat lodge and spread out the building's canvass to dry. Before leaving for Meadow Lake, he closed the stove's damper, letting the fire burn slowly to heat the building.

"It was more than just a building. It was my husband's dream," said Heit.  "He was determined to make a log house and he wanted to do it himself because he had learned how."

Heit said a lot of time, effort and thought went into the building's construction.

"My son carved an eagle head onto the centre pole and my husband painted and made wings to go with that eagle head. It was going to look like an eagle was landing over the entrance into the log sweat house," she said. "He added a lot of extra touches that you wouldn't see normally because he's creative and this was his creation. He created a kind of tree of life out of a tree he found in the bush."

As a residential school survivor, Fiddler said the sweat lodge was supposed to act as part of his healing process. He invested his residential school settlement funding and savings towards the effort. 

As an elder of the community, he was going to use the building to teach younger generations this process as well.

"There's an initial sense of loss, discouragement, anger at yourself for being careless," said Fiddler. "And then you move on to a sense of acceptance of it."

In the meantime, a crowdfunding campaign has been started to help the couple begin the rebuilding process.