Wildfire claims water bomber pilot’s home for second time

By Derek Cornet

A water bomber pilot from La Ronge and his family have lost their house to wildfires for a second time.

“We built that home in 2000 (in Eagle Point) after the house burned there in 1999,” Denise Thomson, wife of water bomber pilot Norman Thomson, told larongeNOW on Tuesday.

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• La Ronge evacuated: Stories from Saskatchewan’s burning north

“You hear a lot about fires and how quickly things can change, and we do live in the boreal forest so I don’t think anyone can be very surprised that this happened, and it will continue to happen,” Thompson said.

“I don’t believe there is any way in having 100 per cent protection.”

Several buildings have been burned by the fast-moving Pisew fire, which forced the evacuation of approximately 7,500 from Air Ronge, La Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band on Monday.

Several structures were destroyed by a wildfire in Eagle Point. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Eagle Point is located directly north of La Ronge.

The fire continues to rage, and any residents who have not yet evacuated were are urged to do so by going south on Highway 2.

Even though Thomson lost her home, she said she’s grateful for the work firefighters are doing and that residents were able to safely evacuate.

“Of course you are sad. You lose the baby’s pictures and all of that sort of thing, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that nobody is hurt and nobody is killed, and if that is how we come out of this at the end, then we’ve won this,” Thomson said.

A large quonset was among the buildings to burn. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Air Ronge’s Doug Holinaty lost his cabin along McGibbon to the Pisew fire. He took a boat down the bay on Tuesday morning and said he saw the remains of five other cabins that were also destroyed.

Upon seeing his cabin burnt down, he said he felt a sense of helplessness.

“We did our trapping and did our fishing there. In the wintertime, when I had the road plowed up to the cabin, I could drive right up to the steps by my cabin. That was nice,” he remarked.

“It is going to be a different winter this year for sure. Everything is just pitch black.”

While Thomson was in Saskatoon when her home was claimed by flames, Holinaty is still at his home in Air Ronge, trying to protect it. He said he’s installed a sprinkler system and will be watching for the fire as it inches closer to the community.