Construction workers safe after huddling in shipping container amid wildfire
The 19-person crew, most from Manitoba, had been working near Sandy Lake in northwestern Ontario
A group of 19 construction workers, 18 of them from Manitoba, were trapped by a wildfire in a construction site near Sandy Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario on Saturday. (Neal Gillespie/Facebook)
The superintendent of a construction crew that sheltered in a shipping container as an out of control wildfire closed in around them says they're lucky to be alive.
The 19-person crew — with all but one hailing from communities across Manitoba — had been working at a job site near Sandy Lake in northwestern Ontario. The site included workers from Sigfusson Northern and Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. who were doing a project for Sandy Lake First Nation.
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Terrifying video posted to social media shows the massive flames and smoke leaping above the treeline against a red sky, just metres from where the group was huddled.
"I thought we're going to perish, actually," said Neal Gillespie, who works with Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc.
Gillespie said the fire was about 40 kilometres away when the work day began on Saturday morning. The fire was quite a bit closer around 9:30 a.m. and the crew began packing up some of the gear in case they had to flee.
"Things started to turn a little worse," he said.
He said someone from Sandy Lake First Nation called them about putting in fire breaks, so they gathered some equipment together and moved toward a work camp 14 kilometres to the west.
"As soon as we start getting our gear out there, within the next 45 minutes, that's how quick the fire jumped on top of us," he said.
He said the group had to abandon their equipment, and gather together inside the 'very barren' camp area, following the emergency planning they'd been doing for weeks.
They used the cargo container to get away from the flames and heavy smoke.
"The fire came up and danced literally right around us," said Gillespie, adding that a few of the cargo containers around where they sat started to catch fire.
"I thought we were going to perish actually. It wasn't good."
They decided to flee the shipping container, and when they got out, part of it caught on fire as well.
The group of workers sheltered inside a shipping container while waiting to be rescued on Saturday. (Neal Gillespie/Facebook)
There were several attempts to get the crew out by helicopter but the smoke was too thick to find them or land, Gillespie said.
"We had three Hueys [helicopters] come above our position, trying to locate us," he said, adding the smoke made visibility challenging.
"They could locate the co-ordinates but they couldn't locate the camp itself," he said.
After four or five hours and unsuccessful rescue attempts, Gillespie said the crew 'successfully' drove in a convoy to Sandy Lake First Nation along one of the area's main roads.
"The towns [are] on very high alert. There's planes coming back and forth here like you wouldn't believe. And there's helicopters flying out here so it's quite bananas here right now."
When Gillespie spoke to CBC news just before 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, he said nine workers had already left the First Nation in a Winnipeg-bound plane. The next plane taking the other half of the crew back to Manitoba arrived shortly after that.
"Our crew is safe and sound," Gillespie said.
Crews 'really traumatized': Chief
As of Saturday night, the Red Lake 12 fire was more than 150,000 hectares in size and was still out of control, a provincial spokesperson said.
"We woke up to just an orange sky with ashes flowing all over the place," Sandy Lake First Nation Chief Delores Kakegamic told CBC News on Saturday.
An evacuation order was issued for the First Nation on Saturday afternoon, with about 1,700 members being flown out as priority evacuees, Kakegamic said. She said they are headed to the airport in Red Lake, where they will be sent to either Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Toronto, or possibly Niagara.
The wildfire was about 40 kilometres away the construction site when the work day began on Saturday, but the fire had surrounded them before noon. (Neal Gillespie/Facebook)
Kakegamic said a few members of the construction crew seemed "really traumatized" when they arrived at the First Nation on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X that Canadian Armed Forces aircraft and personnel have been deployed to support the "emergency airlift evacuations around Sandy Lake First Nation."
Ontario fire information officer Alison Lake, who oversees communications for the Red Lake 12 wildfire, confirmed that all 19 workers are safe and have been accounted for.
In a statement emailed to CBC News, Sigfusson Northern confirmed the company employed 14 members of the construction crew. Sigfusson said it sent the planes that picked up the crew from Sandy Lake First Nation and the company is now providing counselling and wellness services to affected team members.
CBC News also reached out to Milestone Environmental Contracting Inc. but did not receive a response as of 6:30 p.m. CT on Sunday.
However, Sigfusson posted a statement to Facebook on Saturday night confirming its site had been affected by wildfire.
"Our crews showed an extreme level of professionalism and courage in the face of a rapidly changing situation," the company's post said.
"We are thankful that our crews are now out of harm's way and on their way home to their families."
Gillespie said with every site they'd gone to in the past few weeks, they'd developed and practised a protocol for what to do in case of needing to evacuate due to wildfire.
"What we did, what we trained for, what we had in place worked right to a T and probably saved our lives."
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Thumbnail courtesy of Neal Gillespie/Facebook via CBC.
The story was originally written by Lauren Scott and published for CBC News.