'We got the hell out of there'
Forest fire veteran forced to flee for safety as fire engulfs trees around him
Cody Punter
Northern News Services
Published Monday, July 21, 2014
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
In his 40 years of fighting forest fires, Fort Smith resident Earl Evans has never had to abandon his post. That all changed on July 14 when he was forced to run away from a raging fire at the side of Highway 3 near Fort Providence.
Two Caterpillar bulldozers are left behind in a ditch when a forest fire near Fort Providence gets too close for the fire-crews. Bulldozers driver Earl Evans, who has been fighting fires for 40 years, said it was the closest he had ever come to getting burned. - Earl Evans photo |
Evans was operating a 40,000 pound, 200 horsepower caterpillar bulldozer, digging a perimeter around a burning section of forest. The procedure, known as a backburn, creates a buffer zone that allows firefighters to attack the flames.
Evans said he was digging a ditch when spruce trees next to him caught fire. He heard the foreman yelling at him to get out of the pit. Caught up in his work, Evans hadn't noticed the flames.
"We didn't realize how fast the fire was moving," he said.
Once the foreman got his attention, he ditched his caterpillar and jumped into the back of the foreman's truck. "We got the hell out of there," he said.
As the truck sped toward the safety of the highway, half a kilometre away the fire continued to follow them until it had consumed the trees leading up to the road.
"By the time we got to Highway 3, the fire was crossing the road at the same time we were," he said. "It was moving 200 feet a minute."
"That's the closest I've come to getting singed," added a relieved Evans, whose caterpillar was unscathed by the fire save for the mounds of ash that filled the cab when he went to retrieve it.
Evans used to work for the GNWT full time but has since retired. He now fights forest fires on a contract basis, trailering his caterpillar from fire to fire on the back a large flatbed truck, wherever he is needed.
"Now that I'm retired I'm like a gunslinger," he said. "You know (the saying) 'have gun: will travel'? I'm 'have Cat: will travel'"
Having been in the business for so long, Evans has seen it all. He even once worked 26 hours straight fighting a fire near Fort Smith.
"I don't think workman's compensation would want to hear about that," he said.
So far this summer he has helped fight fires in Wood Buffalo Park, Kakisa and Fort Providence. Up until a recent visit to Yellowknife, he had been working for three weeks straight without going home.
He had been scheduled to come to Yellowknife for a colonoscopy several weeks ago but kept putting off the visit in order to help with relief efforts.
"I'd rather be fighting fires," he joked.
Once he is finished up in Yellowknife, Evans plans to head right back into the thick of it until there's no more work left to be done.
"I enjoy it because it's an emergency situation. It's a way of helping the community trying to keep the roads open so people can travel back and forth," he said. "You feel like you've done something once the fire is out."
Evans certainly does his fair share to keep residents of the NWT safe. But he said the credit should really go to the firefighting crews risking their lives on the front lines.
"Those poor buggers (are) suffering," he said. "Firefighting is hard work and nobody really seems to appreciate how hard they work. And I tell ya, they earn their money."
