Churchill Falls residents on edge over forest fire after town makes hasty evacuation

A mother and daughter from Churchill Falls say they are safe now, hundreds of kilometres away from their community after raging wildfires forced them from their home — but they are grateful for the help they've received.

On Wednesday night, forestry officials ordered the hasty evacuation of Churchill Falls, a company town that exists to keep Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro's generating station running.

Residents were asked to be out of the community by 8:15 p.m. AT, and were told to head to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, about 287 kilometres away. There is only one road connecting the towns.

Terry Griffin, who was working in the town, said he was able to hit the road quickly after getting an order — and then drove into a raging thunderstorm.

"It's crazy. And then we ran into this crazy storm coming through. That was nuts," he said.

"I've never seen nothing like it before. Chased out of town by a forest fire and I was almost thinking of going back, that's how bad the storm was."

Susan Chislett, who had arrived with her family at the designated check-in point at the local YMCA, said driving out the town she was born and raised in was "surreal."

"We're looking in the rear view mirror and we're looking and saying it's so dark back there and we have everything we need in the truck because we have us," she told CBC News, standing next to her daughter, Madison Chislett.

While she has seen fires before, she said it never come to an evacuation order before.

"We didn't really think it was a possibility, I guess, or we didn't want to think that it was a possibility until it actually hit home when people were saying 'this could be bad.'"

Lead up to fire

Chislett said throughout the week they had been getting messages about the fires but hadn't thought it would lead to an evacuation order.

"Basically it was a typical day in Churchill Falls until we'd seen a fire that we actually thought was somewhat put out, basically erupt again. And so we knew it was starting to burn again," said Chislett.

She said her husband came back from work and said he had seen the smoke.

"It was at that point we kind of just said 'OK, let's just sit and do what we've got to do.'"

Madison Chislett said they didn't have much time to get out. "It was pretty quick," said Madison. In her haste to grab what she needed, Madison said she forgot to pack socks.

Chislett said most things — like socks and toothbrushes — but she recalled telling her husband when they arrived at the evacuation check-in point they were safe and had already arranged to stay with family.

"That's the main thing and we'll just go day by day. We'll see what happens," said Chislett.

She said many people helped get them to safety. While they were driving out of town, police officers were there to ask them if they were okay and took their names. When they arrived in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, there was a "full brigade of people checking on us."

There was also someone to guide them to the YMCA, even out during the storm. "It's heartwarming," said Chislett.

Meanwhile, a thunderstorm Wednesday night around Happy Valley-Goose Bay has knocked out power for some areas, said N.L. Hydro.

"We're here. We're safe. We're all together and that's the main thing," said Chislett.

Worry for home

Chislett said it's been heartwarming to see the level of help that strangers have been willing to give, especially at a time when she doesn't know if they will have a home to return to when the evacuation order is lifted.

She hopes they have a home to go back to, adding it's where her daughter grew up.

"We can always rebuild if we need to and thousands have done that. And we've watched them and helped them to do it. So it's our turn now to kinda bite the bullet and do what we've got to do to make sure we're all safe and happy and healthy."

Elizabeth Power, 12, was also at the YMCA, said she believed everything would turn out okay.

"We're going to figure this out and there's people who are willing to help us if something happens and we're in trouble," she said.

"They're going to be safe eventually."

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