'Beyond devastating': Residents of Denare Beach, Sask., start returning home

For Alannah Skot, returning to Denare Beach, Sask., has been both painful and therapeutic.

Her home was among the 218 permanent residences destroyed by wildfire three weeks ago, when the Wolf fire roared into the northern village on June 2.

But the lodge she owns, the Overland Resort, survived, so she was among the people allowed to return to the community on the weekend when the local evacuation order partially lifted.

"It's beyond devastating," she said on Monday, when asked what it's like to be back.

"But I personally feel so much better being here with all my friends, and just having the support.… To be back where people are feeling the same emotions as you is very therapeutic."

Skot travelled to Denare Beach on Saturday to start preparing her lodge for guests, who so far will include some displaced residents as well as SaskTel crews in town to restore phone and internet services.

She said she is "beyond grateful" to the firefighters who defended the community, and thankful her lodge is still standing, though she doesn't know how — there's blackened signs of the burn all around it and the rice plant across the street was destroyed.

"The grass is longer, my barbecue is a pool of metal, like most around town," she said. "My glass bottles that were ready for recycling are melted."

On Sunday, the village lifted the evacuation order for permanent residents whose homes weren't destroyed by fire. Then on Monday, the village announced the evacuation order will be fully lifted on Wednesday, meaning seasonal residents and non-residents will also be allowed to travel there.

"Due to the many crews working in the village and for those who have experienced losses, we ask that any unnecessary traffic refrain from entering the village at this time," the village posted on Facebook.

Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation has also been working on co-ordinating the response and recovery for its Denare Beach reserve, just south of the Northern Village of Denare Beach. Just 10 homes out of about 35 on the reserve were saved.

The First Nation said in an update on its website that it is "working to restrict access to Denare Beach to community members only. Security measures are being implemented to prevent non-residents from entering or taking photos in the area."

Some residents in the area will have to wait a bit longer until they can return, including anyone who needs medical services. Denare Beach and nearby Creighton depend on the city of Flin Flon, just across the border in Manitoba, for many services.

Officials in Manitoba said they expect to lift the evacuation order for Flin Flon on Wednesday, but health-care services will be limited for a while.