Wildfire destruction is seen from the air in Chipewyan Lake, a hamlet within the Municipal District of Opportunity No. 17 in northern Alberta, in an undated handout photo. A wildfire destroyed about half of the structures in the remote community this summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Marcel Auger
Some students from a remote, northern Alberta community will mark the first day of classes in a school that’s not their own on Tuesday after a menacing wildfire destroyed half of all structures in their hamlet this summer.
Northland School Division says this school year is the second one in a row that more than two dozen elementary and high school students from Chipewyan Lake are attending schools in Wabasca, a hamlet located about 135 kilometres south of their homes.
Superintendent and CEO of the division Cal Johnson says even though Chipewyan Lake School was one of the structures that didn’t burn down after a wildfire ripped through the community in late May, the school is still not safe to attend, and the Chipewyan’s roughly 100 residents remain under an evacuation order.
“It’s unfortunate to say, but it almost is like they’re getting used to this every year,” said Johnson.
“Students and their families have gone through a very traumatic time here (but) they are very resilient.”
Chipewyan Lake is about 450 kilometres north of Edmonton and one of seven hamlets within the Municipal District of Opportunity No. 17.
Marcel Auger, the reeve of the municipal district, says even though a dangerous wildfire last year also forced Chipewyan’s students to attend school in Wabasca, this summer’s wildfire season was the worst one the students have ever seen because many of them have also lost their homes.
“This summer the wildfire destroyed half of Chipewyan’s structures,” he said in a phone interview Monday.
Auger said a recent flyover of the community showed a total of 62 structures burned down, and all of them are in the community’s south.
They included homes, cabins, sheds, as well as a senior centre, a church and Chipewyan’s water treatment plant. Power was only recently restored, Auger added.
He said when the flames breached the community’s sole entrance road on May 29, some fire crews got trapped. They ended up taking shelter overnight inside a structure before a rescue crew could reach them.
He said this is the worst wildfire season the municipal district has also seen.
“At one point here this summer, four of our seven communities were evacuated.”
“That’s the most we’ve ever had in one given time to have for four out of our seven communities evacuated.”
This has become a norm rather than a one-off in northern Alberta “based on what we’ve been dealing with Mother Nature,” Auger said.
The reeve said Chipewyan’s students are stressed about attending schools outside their community another year. They are the only ones to do so this year in the municipal district.
“Having half of your community destroyed is difficult,” he said.
“This community that’s very isolated basically lives off the land. Even being in Wabasca for over three months already is a huge, huge change for them.”
He said he knows a couple students who miss the remote lifestyle they had in Chipewyan, and have chosen to return with their families regardless of the evacuation order because their homes are still standing in the north end.
Johnson said his school division has organized for staff to go to Chipewyan once a week to provide lessons to them and deliver homework packages so they can continue their education.
“Everyone’s looking forward to getting back to the normalcy of school again,” Johnson said.
Dry conditions have contributed to Canada’s second-worst wildfire season on record this year, dating back to the early 1970s. The fires have burned through an area slightly larger than New Brunswick.
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