Hay River Kandis Jameson says she’ll never forget watching roaring fire from plane

The mayor of Hay River says the Canadian Coast Guard is on standby in the southern N.W.T. hub in case the wildfire situation worsens and further emergency evacuations are needed.

Mayor Kandis Jameson held a news conference on Saturday to give an update on the fire threatening her community. She shared the pain of leaving the North behind when boarding an emergency flight to Alberta on Friday.

“I felt like I was abandoning the people that were working the hardest for us and that was a really tough one to come to terms with,” Jameson, speaking from Edmonton, said of the firefighters who remain behind to combat the fire.

“To look out the window and see that fire roaring towards your town was something I will never forget.”

According to the latest update from N.W.T. fire officials on Saturday afternoon, the fire is now one kilometre west of the Hay River airport, 1.5 kilometres west of the town centre and seven kilometres south of homes in the K’átł’odeeche First Nation reserve. The more active threat prompted the territory on Friday to order all remaining residents, including essential workers, to leave the town.

“The last thing they do is remove the essential workers. If that doesn’t tell people how serious a situation we’re in I’m not sure what will,” Jameson said.

There are no flights out of Hay River planned for Saturday, according to Jameson. She said an estimated 100 civilians not associated with firefighting efforts remain in town.

“I know that, should things go really sideways, the Coast Guard [is] out in the harbour,” the mayor said. “They are anchored out there should we need their support. That gives us that second layer should we have to pull our team out or other residents.”

The CCGS Eckaloo is in Hay River to help, according to a social media post from the Coast Guard on Saturday. Hay River is the vessel’s home port, according to the ship’s profile.

Evacuees sent to Edmonton, then Calgary

Jameson was among those who boarded an evacuation flight to Edmonton on Friday night, along with her dogs, according to a post on the town’s page.

“Of course the planes can only hold so much, so it was one backpack and [a] dog on a leash kind of deal. And wearing the same clothes I had on yesterday … But there’s a lot of people in a lot worse situations than I am.”

Sixty-one people, mostly civilians, went out on one flight Friday while a second flight carried more than 100 military personnel and other residents.

Since emergency shelters in Edmonton are full, evacuees were then sent to Calgary, Jameson said.