IN PHOTOS | Families uprooted by wildfire find shelter in Brandon
Evacuees fleeing Pukatawagan Cree Nation arrived Thursday night
Pukatawagan Cree Nation fire evacuee Rashelle Colomb had to leave her dogs and partner behind as her family fled an out-of-control wildfire.
The plane she took arrived in Brandon, Man., Thursday night with her two children and six other passengers fleeing one of the many fires forcing evacuations in Manitoba.
It ended up being the last flight to Brandon out of Pukatawagan on Thursday before smoke forced the airport to close. There is no all-season road access to the First Nation, also known as Mathias Colomb.
Pukatawagan Chief Gordie Bear told CBC Thursday that around 200 people had been evacuated from the First Nation, but around 2,000 people still needed to get out Thursday evening.
Colomb could see the wildfires getting close to the airport as they left, she said.
"My daughter, when we were flying over ... the flames, she started crying … asking for her dad right away," Colomb said.
It was a relief to touch down in Brandon, she said.
Pukatawagan, about 660 kilometres north of Brandon, is among several northern Manitoba communities under an evacuation order since Wednesday, when the Manitoba government declared a provincewide state of emergency because of wildfires across the region.
The City of Brandon says it's ready to help the province and the Canadian Red Cross support people affected by fires in any way possible.
Terry Parlow, Brandon's chief of emergency services, said the city anticipates welcoming around 300 evacuees.
Norway House Cree Nation member Amanda Balfour expected her cousin to be one of those evacuees.
She waited at the Brandon Municipal Airport for hours before finding out her cousin's plane had landed in Winnipeg.
Colomb is relieved she and her kids made it to Brandon, where they'll be staying in a hotel.
She hopes her partner will join them soon, but he'll be one of the last to leave because he's a medical van driver.
"You can just see, like, you can see the flames and how close it's getting to the airport," she said. "Hopefully everybody makes it out of there."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
