Murray Wood: Highlights from this year's family reunion
Summer is a time for homecomings and reunions, and in Saskatchewan that often means city folks going out to the family f...
Dustin Trumbley watched as the fire that destroyed the northern community of Denare Beach burned his home down.
He and his fiancée, Joanne Churchill, had evacuated to his family’s home in Swan River, thinking two things: that the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) would come and put sprinklers around the area and that the bay in front of their home would help protect against the fire.
But, he said that didn’t happen.
“The last camera footage was just pure black smoke. And then lights out, and that’s when we just both broke down, and we knew it was over before it even started,” Trumbley said.
According to Joanne Churchill, Trumbley’s fiancée, one of the items that survived the wildfire was a ceramic frog that once held the sponge in their kitchen (Joanne Churchill/submitted)
When it was finally time to return to Denare Beach, Trumbley thought he was prepared to see the devastation.
Instead, it brought him to his knees.
“I’m not a crier or nothing like that, but that’s enough to drop any man to his knees when you see that it’s literally gone, wiped away, not a piece of wood, the metal melted,” he said.
The wildfire that tore through Denare Beach melted the rims on Joanna Churchill’s tires (Joanne Churchill/submitted)
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According to Trumbley, he lost everything, including mementos from his grandfather – a reality that he can’t shake.
“I should have got more out, but I thought we would have help. I did,” he said, adding how this experience “belittles you as a person.”
Two months later, Trumbley and Churchill are living out of a camper, with hopes of rebuilding by this winter.
Dustin Trumbley’s Denare Beach home before the wildfire (Joanne Churchill/submitted)
But, he said another wildfire is bound to hit the community again and people need answers, like what the provincial government is doing to prepare for the next time a wildfire strikes.
“We want some accountability from the Premier,” Trumbley said. “I voted for him. I wish I didn’t, but I did and I thought he would give some accountability by now, but he hasn’t.”
That accountability could start in the form of a town hall meeting with Premier Scott Moe and the SPSA.
Trumbley said it would give Denare Beach residents a chance to ask questions about the lack of wildfire resources, like “why 11 of our volunteer guys had to work 20-hour shifts to try and save my home and put their lives on the line.”
Dustin Trumbley stands in between the NDP’s Brittney Senger and Jordan McPhail. With the lack of accountability from the provincial government. Trumbley said he’s “ashamed to even be part of Saskatchewan some days.” (Marija Robinson/650 CKOM)
“Tan lines and tee times”
For Trumbley, the government’s inadequate response is a consequence of living up north.
“I should not be forgotten about because I was born and raised in the north, and that’s how I feel. I feel like we were forgotten about and abandoned,” he said.
It’s a sentiment echoed by NDP Northern Affairs Critic Jordan McPhail.
“[Moe] spent the whole summer pretending that everything north of Prince Albert did not exist,” McPhail said.
He said earlier this year the government claimed it was prepared for this wildfire season but that wasn’t true, with people forced to evacuate without notice and living without funding for weeks or months.
“My constituents will recover from this in spite of the Sask Party government, not because of them,” McPhail said.
These comments come the day before the provincial government holds its Northern Golf Classic 2025 tournament in Elk Ridge, which McPhail said raises money for the Sask Party’s political campaigns.
It’s a move that NDP Ethics and Democracy Critic, Brittney Senger, said is reminiscent of U.S. President Donald Trump, who “plays golf while everything around him burns.”
Both Senger and McPhail called on the government to cancel the fundraiser and visit those impacted by the wildfires.
They need stop prioritizing “tan lines and tee times” and “get their asses up into northern Saskatchewan and start talking to people that have lost so much,” McPhail said.
That’s exactly what the government is doing, though.
According to a government statement, the Premier and Minister Responsible for the SPSA, Tim McLeod, were visiting Beauval and La Loche on August 11, the same day these criticisms were made.
The two were set to meet with local leadership and visit SPSA facilities, but McPhail said it’s still not enough.
“I’m glad that he’s responded to some level of our communication and found his way into northern Saskatchewan to go into Beauval. But he needs to meet with people like Dustin,” he said.
