Evacuees step up for shelter pets amid wildfire chaos

The decisions can be overwhelming for a person forced to evacuate due to a wildfire. What documents to pack? What family keepsakes to take? Where to go?

This week, dozens of people in the Flin Flon and Creighton area made another decision: to help.

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On Tuesday, the wildfire that had started near Creighton on the Saskatchewan side of the border crossed into Manitoba and inched closer and closer to Flin Flon. Nicole Kendrick, president of the Flon Flon/Creighton & Area SPCA, said she was given just two hours to get all of the animals out.

“The smoke was really bad. You could see flames,” said Kendrick.

She said Cliff Lake Road, where the shelter is located, had already been barricaded by police when she arrived. The group put out a call for help on social media, asking for assistance from anyone who could come and help get the animals out.

“People just showed up, and we had all of our animals – which was 13 dogs and 20 cats – we had them all placed with people within an hour and a half,” Kendrick explained.

She said the response from the community was overwhelming.

“At the end of my hour and a half, I sat in the office in the shelter and just had a minute, and I had some tears because I just couldn’t believe how quickly we all came together and got them out,” she said.

The area has an amazing animal support community, according to Kendrick, and all the animals are being well taken care of by their fosters.

“Every single person that came through that door I know them personally, and I know that they love our animals just as much as I love those animals,” she said.

Like the evacuees, Kendrick said the animals are spread out all over Manitoba and Saskatchewan right now.

She’s in Nipawin now with 12 dogs, including animals from the shelter, family members and her own pets. Kendrick said she’s been hearing different things about the situation in the community right now, and said the shelter building is right in the bush so she’s concerned it won’t be there when they return.

“Your mind’s kind of racing, because you’re thinking ‘These people are so wonderful and they have these animals,’ but it’s not a permanent solution, and where do these animals go now?” she said.

As of noon on Thursday, the Club Fire, near Creighton and Flin Flon, was 25,000 hectares in size and still wasn’t contained.

Editor’s Note: This story has been edited to amend the size of the Club fire.