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Life gets back to normal in Deline Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison Northern News Services Published Monday, July 25, 2011
She didn't know when she was going to return home, or whether her home would be there when she got back. All she knew was that there was a 150-hectare fire burning 12 km away and, as an elder, she was considered at risk and offered a free plane ride out. "I was worried. My grandkids are behind and what if it got worse? What's going to happen? The small one is about three to four years old but, you know, I asked questions and they told me there was a big plane left behind for them," she said. "If it got worse, the people could go on it, so I felt relieved." Elemie landed in Yellowknife at around 7 a.m. and phoned her husband, who stayed home to care for their 14-year-old grandaughter, daily. "He said, 'There's lots of smoke, but it's getting better every day.'" For three nights 107 elders, young children and people with respiratory problems from the community stayed in hotels in Yellowknife. On July 13 the Department of Environment and Natural Resources gave Deline the go-ahead to bring its evacuees home. "It was just a big relief," Elemie said. They touched down July 14 in the afternoon, and since then life has returned to normal. "I don't see any smoke or anything," she said, adding the heavy rain last week has helped. The swift transition back to normalcy can be credited to Municipal and Community Affairs, the Department of Transportation, the Emergency Operations Committee, the RCMP, the local health centre and local businesses, according to Deline SAO Christina Gaudet. In Yellowknife, evacuees were taken care of by the City of Yellowknife and Yellowknife Health and Social Services. "I would have been running around with my head cut off if I was doing this myself," Gaudet said after the evacuees returned home. Firefighters were still working outside Deline last Thursday, although the blaze is no longer labelled "out of control."
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