Local resident Alyssa Hergott stepped up in a big way over the last week, volunteering her time and efforts to support firefighting and relief operations amid the ongoing wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.
She returned on Sunday after helping for a week.
Hergott explains that her brother works for a contractor hired by the provincial government to assist with the wildfires, and he reached out to her. She ended up driving an Army truck equipped with a massive water tank, hauling water and operating pumps to support the ground crews.
When she was asked to travel up north, Hergott said she had to contemplate it, as it would require her to leave her business for a week. But after some reflection and understanding of her customers, she decided to help out.
“It didn't take very long to decide to go. I just felt like they were in desperate need of another body, and I was able, so I went.”
The northern wildfires have been a focal point in the provincial over the past couple months, but Hergott said when she arrived, it was different than what she was expecting.
“Everything is burnt,” she explains, “It's very black. It's hot.”
Hergott noted that while the experience wasn’t scary, things could change in a matter of seconds.
“The fires can just start out of nowhere, like you can be standing there, and then the tree next to you can just blow up on fire.”
She added, “It's more like it gives you an adrenaline rush when you're there because you can't panic. You have to act and call whoever you need to call to get there. Like the choppers come in with the water bombs.”
During her week helping with the wildfire efforts, Hergott says she was based out of Lower Fishing Lake Fire Base. She would move up past Little Bear before breaking away from the rest of her crew as a water truck was needed near Candle Lake. With no cell service, Hergott said communication was dependent on radios.
Rainfall made its way to southern Saskatchewan over the last weekend, highlighted by a wet weekend. Hergott says the weather situation in the northern region was quite different compared to the southern section.
“Up north, it’s very, very hot, very dry.”
When she travelled back home on Sunday, it was raining steadily between Melfort and Humboldt, but during the week she spent up north, there was only a little drizzle for one evening.
“It's just strange how the climate is so different, not that far away."
Following a week in northern Saskatchewan, Hergott says she may be called to return to assist with the wildfire efforts.
One thing that caught Hergott’s attention while she was helping with the wildfires was the number of people who made a similar decision.
“So many dedicated people in the province going up there, I met so many people that they left their well-paying jobs to go because they feel the need to protect their communities.”
Hergott concluded, “It's really humbling to see how much everybody wants to be there to help the province.”
Hergott provided some photos from her time in northern Saskatchewan which can be found in the gallery below.