Once again, Enterprise, N.W.T., becomes a safe haven for Hay River and KFN residents

The rush to leave their homes is a feeling all too familiar for residents of Hay River and Kt'odeeche First Nation in the Northwest Territories.

This year's wildfire evacuation order came nearly exactly a year after last year's flood evacuation and once again, many have settled in nearby Enterprise.

While most evacuees drove through to Yellowknife, about 40 people spent the night in the community of about 100.

"Residents have people living in their houses again," said Michael St. Amour, Enterprise's mayor.

While the small community is usually a half-hour drive from Hay River, St. Amour said it took some residents two and a half hours to get there.

For Debbie Richard, that drive was even longer she spent 15 hours on the road Sunday.

The plan was to leave Medicine Hat, Alta., for home in Hay River.

But once she and her family arrived, they immediately packed up their camper and left for Enterprise.

Overall, she said the welcome in the community has been "really good."

St. Amour also owns the Cash & Carry. He opened the store late to welcome evacuees with a place to sleep and some food.

"Welcome to Enterprise, the door is always open," he said.

An echo of last year

By the time Hay River issued its evacuation order, Mitchell Touesnard could see flames from his house.

The fire had jumped the river on Vale Island near the cemetery.

"I definitely thought my house had a pretty good chance of burning down," he said.

But Monday morning, Touesnard returned to Hay River to get his camper and saw his home was still intact.

Still, he worries about the ongoing warm temperatures and dryness around the community an entirely opposite situation to last May, but with the same result.

"There's so much resemblance to what happened last year when we had the flood," he said.

The alarm in town, the rush to gather things and leave, and ending up at Enterprise's Cash & Carry it all echoed last year's evacuation.

"[They have] been so, so accommodating," he said.

Shared experience

Pat Wray says this year's evacuation was much easier than in 2022.

"We even parked in the same parking spot as we did last year, except there wasn't two feet of snow," she said.

When they arrived at 3:30 a.m. on Monday, she and her husband Ken went to the community centre.

"They were amazing," she said. "They were organized, they had coffee and food."

Wray says it took months for her stress from the flood to go back down to normal.

"Now this, so back up," she said.

But one thing has helped: chatting with others about their experience and what they're going to do once they can finally go back home.