A few hours after it started, quick-spreading wildfire forces dozens to evacuate northern Ontario First Nation
Erik White | CBC News | Posted: June 21, 2023 9:17 PM | Last Updated: June 22, 2023
400 Fort Albany evacuees to take planes and trains to Val Rita and Kapuskasing on Thursday
A fly-in First Nation on Ontario's James Bay Coast has been forced to quickly evacuate with a fast-spreading forest fire less than two kilometres away.
What started as a small wildfire around noon on Wednesday was whipped up by the wind and within hours had people in Fort Albany watching walls of flame move swiftly toward their isolated community of 700.
"We're declaring a state of emergency and we're going to be evacuating starting right now," Fort Albany Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit said in a Facebook video post Wednesday.
"So get ready. Get your kids ready. Keep them in the home and pack everything, whatever you need while we go and figure everything out."
By Wednesday night, she was urging people to get onto evacuation planes bound for Moosonee, with about 300 evacuees ending up in the town.
About 71 other people were picked up by boats that crossed the Albany River from the neighbouring community of Kashechewan.
"The priority is that we need to move these people out of their community," said Chief Gaius Wesley, urging people from Kashechewan to get in their boats and head over to Fort Albany, while promising to provide them with fuel.
Some evacuees from Fort Albany spent the night on cots in the high school gymnasium in Kashechewan.
Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit says the plan now is to take those 400 evacuees in Moosonee and Kashechewan to Val Rita, Kapuskasing and other towns in the south, with elders and their families going by air and others taking the Polar Bear Express train starting on Thursday evening.
"The reason behind this is because of the conditions they are currently in. It's been reported that both the arena and school gyms are overcrowded and the climate in these venues is too hot with no air conditioning," Kataquapit said in a Facebook live.
She says she is working with the federal and provincial governments to organize an airlift for the 300 people who remain in Fort Albany.
"Hopefully nothing gets worse throughout the day," Kataquapit said.
Chief Wesley said that starting Thursday morning, he wants to evacuate children and elders from Kashechewan to get away from the smoke, after hearing reports of lung problems in his community.
He is asking the federal government to provide extra airplanes so they don't take away from ongoing evacuation plans for Fort Albany.
"It's a very concerning time. It's very scary. Let's not take this lightly. We need to prepare ourselves," Wesley said.
"Let's continue praying for the community of Fort Albany and their leadership."
This comes just a few months after both Cree communities were evacuated out of fear of spring flooding.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said the 300-hectare fire near Fort Albany is being fought with water bombers and helicopters, rapidly increased in "intensity" on Wednesday and is still not under control.
There are 23 active wildfires in the northeast, including one that has so far scorched over 11,000 hectares of bush near Lake Abitibi.