It took some sweet-talking, but Marlene Barzeele and her band of helpers managed to airlift a huge load of donated food into Little Bear Lake to feed the small crew of people who are protecting 150 homes and cabins from wildfire.
Barzeele said seeing the helicopter take flight might have been the first time she has felt joy since leaving her husband of 43 years behind so he could to defend their house and community last Thursday.
“It’s been agonizing knowing that he’s there. And I wished that I stayed, but he insisted that I leave. So that’s why we had to figure out a way to help,” she said.
Marlene’s husband Bill Barzeele, 72, is the oldest among the small team of volunteers who stayed at Little Bear Lake, 140 kilometres northeast of Prince Albert, as the unpredictable and aggressive Shoe Fire burned dangerously close. The men patrol the perimeter, douse hotspots and pump water onto properties.
“My husband is with the other people who are working to keep those hoses and pumps working at people’s docks just to make sure that yards are wet,” she said.
Volunteers work to protect 150 homes and cabins at Little Bear Lake.
People also removed flammable materials, like propane tanks.
“They’re like bombs when they overheat,” said Marlene’s daughter, Heather Arsenie. “That was an incredibly smart thing to do.”
The volunteers have been joined by some professional firefighters, helicopters, heavy equipment operators and other contractors employed by the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA). The Delta Company has installed sprinklers on every cabin.
The Shoe Fire, which started on May 7, merged with the Camp Fire and has grown to more than 216,000 hectares. This week, it burned dozens of homes and cabins at East Trout Lake. The wildfire continues to split and morph, fuelled by wind, moving around the lake, jumping a fire guard, even threatening the landing strip.
“It’s miraculous that the community has been saved to this point,” she said.
Food delivery by air
Marlene, now staying with her daughter in Melfort, receives daily reports from Bill from the front lines and shares them with others.
The Barzeele family has owned property at Little Bear since 1981, and she and her husband have lived there full-time since 2006.
Feeling helpless, and concerned that food was running low, Marlene posted on Facebook on Tuesday that she wanted to organize a food hamper delivery for people protecting their community.
She was flooded with e-transfers and donations from people who have connections to the lake, including frequent campers, cabin owners, and even grandchildren of cabin owners who have fond memories of childhoods at the lake.
Marlene and her helpers ordered individually wrapped sandwiches, and bought snacks and other ready-to-eat food items. They picked up donations from business owners who have cabins at the lake, like Sauder’s Home Hardware in Melfort.
“I really don’t want to take credit because there have been so many donations from everyone. It’s overwhelming,” she said.
But getting the food hamper into the community would be another challenge. All roads were closed due to fire.
“We were told that only contractors listed with SPSA were allowed to go through the roadblock,” she said.
After some discussion and phone calls at the roadblock, they were allowed to go to the helicopter pad. They got the food in the air, then delivered to the Little Bear Lake store and distributed to workers.
People banded together to send food to volunteers and professional defending Little Bear Lake.
On Friday, the group posted that it was sending their fourth load of food and drinks up. It had spent nearly $5,000 on supplies so far, and more e-transfers were still coming in.
“Even more inspiring, we’re also sending a separate load dedicated to our brave neighbours in Moosehorn, standing strong through challenging times. Let’s continue to show them what community spirit looks like!” Arsenie posted on Facebook..
As of early Friday morning, a lot of forest had burned around Little Bear Lake, but no cabins had been destroyed.
Marlene, who admitted she’s been crying and stressed, was reluctant to do an interview, but agreed to speak with CBC News because she wants to shine a light on the bravery of people who are working so hard to defend the community, and to ask for more supplies and more firefighting resources.
