How Ontario First Nation escaped raging wildfire that burned down their community

Chief Helen Paavola was on a plane to Ottawa when the fire reached her community. She spent the morning calling for help and was told the smoke was coming from a wildfire that was still at a safe distance. Before long, the fire was on top of the community.

Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, also known as Collins, is north of Lake Nipigon. Its members got themselves out Monday in a handful of small boats.

“The evacuation was done by them. There was no federal, provincial help. There was no other ministry or any entity or whatever you want to call it out there to help them. They did this on their own,” Paavola said.

“The bravery that they showed is incredible. And they deserve to have the recognition for their bravery.”

Every home is gone. Everyone in the community survived.

Paavola spoke to National Post by phone from Thunder Bay, where her community is now staying. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

We knew that there was a smouldering fire. Our community is along the CN line at mile 21, and for the last few weeks there was a fire at mile 40. That is a safe distance from our community, so we weren’t too worried about it.

I was heading to the Assembly of First Nations (meeting in Ottawa). It was early Monday morning that I received a message from one of my members. She had sent me a picture of billowing smoke over the trees. And I thought, “Oh my goodness, that looks kind of close.”

My sons work up in the community. One of them is a community wellness worker and one of the central contacts there, Scott Frank. I messaged him and told him, you guys need to start calling. Because that does look close.

Someone did call me back. But I don’t know who it was.

He reassured me that it was smouldering from mile 40. So I told Scotty and a few other members, get everybody to pack a bag, just in case. I wasn’t too sure whether to go or not. But I left thinking, okay, it’s going to be okay, because supposedly it’s just a smouldering smoke.

My flight was just over two hours. As soon as I turned my cell on, it just went crazy. More pictures were coming in. They were getting frantic, telling me the smoke is way closer than it should be.

I asked my nephew, Lyndon Paavola. He has a drone that he uses for his own personal use. And I said, can you send your drone up, please, to see where that smoke is coming from. So he did send it up and he sent me the picture. And I said, that is not mile 40. That’s not very far at all.

I tried calling people again.

Then just after five o’clock, a message comes through and he says, “Hey, you need to get everybody out of the community. This fire is at mile 23.” And I said, “What?” And then they sent me the video. And I was like, “Oh, no.”

So I called the office there. And I said, “Get everybody out. Get out now. Get everybody to the landing. Just go.”

During this whole time, there was no help. They did this on their own. They evacuated themselves. And the fire was right on top of them. They watched the community burn. They were so close to the fire that they could feel the heat from the flames. It was horrendous.

Yeah, the workers there. My son, Scott Frank, and Monty Frank, Lyndon Paavola, Wayne Wastaken, Mikey and Ryan Wesley. They got the elders out and the children out. They did it on their own.

Everybody seems to think that we have big, fancy boats. But we’re a small, remote First Nation, enclosed by forest. The boats that we’re using are 12-foot, 14-foot boats with motors that are aged to the 80s.

And that’s what saved them.

Lyndon Paavola was one driver. Wayne Wastaken drove one boat. Chance Paavola, who was only 13, drove his little boat with his little dog. And he even went back. He was already out, and he turned around to go back to try and save more people.

Yeah, everybody got out. Unfortunately, one of the women there had three dogs, and one of her dogs was very aged. And they had the dogs in another boat attached to them. But because it was so heavy, they weren’t really moving. And the young man who was driving that boat had to make a decision. They had to cut the string. So that member lost two dogs. They wouldn’t have survived had they tried to keep towing.

That’s not even going into the trauma that they faced. It was horrifying for them.

It’s lucky the three drivers that were going from Thunder Bay. My oldest son was one of the drivers. He had a Starlink in the van, so I was able to call him. And I told him, you need to drive fast. And he was telling me, Mom, I was doing 130 down that highway with a van that was just shaking away.

That’s just on the (Highway) 527. Once you’re about 30 kilometres out of Armstrong, you have to go down a dirt road, and that dirt road is 34 kilometres to our landing. It’s not maintained. We tried to maintain it ourselves, but it’s a logging road that’s not used for logging anymore. Twists and turns and hills. Very, very dangerous road. You need to normally drive as slow as 30 kilometres.

The children were one of the first loads out. They got everybody into the vans, but the fire was right on top of them, and they had to race back out, 34 kilometres. They got out within 20 minutes, which is unheard of. He says they were doing like 90 to 100 to get out of there. It’s a miracle that they survived.

We got everybody situated in Thunder Bay. Anishinabek Nation secured rooms for us. Right now, they’re the ones that are looking after us.

That fire did consume the community, so everybody has lost their homes. And now we’re looking at long term, how do we house them here in Thunder Bay. A lot going on.

The four teenagers that were in the community were there doing their summer job. We hire our young students to cut grass and brush. They were going into their second week, and they were so happy. They were working so hard. And it’s just like that. Within hours, everything was gone.

People have asked me that, and I don’t know how to answer that. I’m doing what needs to be done. There’s a time, I’m sure, when things are going to quiet down where I can spend some time and mourn for my community and mourn for the loss, because it’s a huge loss.

I mean, my house itself is ashes. But for me, my concern is to put my members first and get them settled and make sure that they feel safe again.