NORTH BATTLEFORD - Evacuees from Canoe Lake Cree First Nation are currently in North Battleford escaping the wildfires in their home community.
Dianne Iron and her son Jay Iron are staying at a local North Battleford hotel until it's safe to go home.
They evacuated on Wednesday morning.
"We were actually given until 7 o'clock in the morning to get out of Canoe Lake," Dianne told SaskToday. "It wasn't that smoky yet, but you could smell the stink in the air."
Iron said that people who had chronic conditions and children were ordered to leave before that.
"This was the only place they could find me a room, or I'd have to go to Fort Saskatchewan. It's too far for me to go over there," she said.
While evacuating from Canoe Lake, Iron said she was more worried about leaving behind her three puppies than anything else.
Her children and grandchildren were all evacuated so they are safe.
Some of her children are staying in Keeley Lake.
Iron said someone is going around feeding people's pets, which has been a help.
"I just heard that the fire is about a kilometre away now, so I'm really worried," she said. "So, I got somebody to try and go in and pick them [her puppies] up and deliver them to Keeley."
As far as her house is concerned, Iron is not particularly worried however.
"It can be replaced," she said.
She said what's more important is that everyone got out safely.
This is the second time the family have been evacuated. The last one was about a month ago
"We went to Cold Lake that time," Iron said.
Jay Iron, Dianne's son, is trying to take everything in stride.
"I miss my bed," he said.
Jay said he isn't feeling stressed about the situation.
He hopes the firefighters will be able to save their house though.
"I believe they'll shut it off or at least stop it from spreading further," Jay said.
Candace Toma, the City of North Battleford's Public and Intergovernmental Relations Co-ordinator, confirmed that there are currently 14 families in the community from Canoe Lake First Nation.
"They are in our community and being supported by some of the health agencies in the community, including BATC [Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs]," she said.
The city recently had about 140 evacuees from Montreal Lake Cree Nation, but they have since moved south to Regina where there is more capacity.
"The preference is always for the most part that community members get to stay in the same community. So, they tend to not want to split people up, which we absolutely understand," Toma said.
