Kátł'odeeche First Nation chief gives no timeline for return, questions return to Hay River

The chief of the Kátł'odeeche First Nation says it was a surprise to her when the Town of Hay River announced people could begin returning to a community still under an evacuation alert due to a nearby wildfire. 

Chief April Martel told Lawrence Nayally, host of CBC's Trail's End, that she talked with town officials Tuesday and understood that they'd be bringing back essential workers "just to get things ready." Instead, she learned at lunchtime that the town of about 3,500 planned to invite residents to return starting at noon Thursday. 

"That wasn't even spoken about yesterday. We thought that the doors were still going to be closed."

The Town of Hay River announced Wednesday that it would allow the public to begin returning. However, that invitation came with several caveats, including that people should be prepared to evacuate again on short notice. 

"If you don't have a way out of the community, people really need to to think hard about coming back," Mayor Kandis Jameson told CBC News. 

Jameson also noted that people with health-care needs should note that the community's hospital is not fully up and running. "People need to take those things into consideration when making the decision to return to the community," Jameson said. 

And while the Kátł'odeeche First Nation has not invited its members to return, Martel says the return is bad news for her community, which is still battling an active situation. She's worried that people returning will put pressure on hotels, where firefighters are currently staying, and on grocery stores, which will have to scramble to prepare. 

"We do have power lines down, we have trees that are still burning," she said. "There's flare ups within the community still. We just had one 10 minutes ago along around one of the houses."

Martel says emergency crews were on the scene right away putting that fire out. 

But, she said, the situation is still dangerous, with a 3,200-hectare, out-of-control wildfire still burning nearby. 

"The ECC [Environment and Climate Change] …  they're not happy right now with what has been done, because the fire is still out of control," Martel said. 

ECC fire information officer Mike Westwick earlier told CBC News that the fire is indeed still burning out of control and could still grow. He said the fire is about six kilometres away from the community, and more hot, dry conditions are expected this week, with temperatures reaching into the mid-to-high 20s – one reason Hay River remains under an evacuation alert. 

However, Westwick said his department has worked closely with the Town of Hay River, "and I think that we're in line with the fact that there are still risks that exist in town." He advises those returning to follow updates from the fire service and be aware of the risk. 

Martel is also worried about people from Hay River trying to visit the reserve, which has been badly damaged by flames. 

"It's already happening," she said. "Now they're trying to come into our barricades and we're telling them no, in order to pass this barricade, we must get a special permit in order to come in here because there's hoses everywhere, there's power lines down."

Martel said she has been working on trying to get a 100-person camp set up in the community, where First Nation members who lost homes can stay while they start to put the pieces back together, but that will take time. 

She also says it could be a matter of months, not weeks, before damages are assessed, and an environmental cleanup of spilled fuel and other toxins is assessed, let alone complete. 

But most of all, she's worried about the hot weather on the way. 

"What if we get these flare ups again? It's hot weather. What if it starts jumping again in town?"

Martel says she's sympathetic to people waiting to hear when they can return home, but says there's no way to put an exact date on when it will be safe.