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Brooke Kindel’s recurring nightmare of fleeing her home in Denare Beach, Sask., as a wildfire closes in doesn’t disrupt her sleep as regularly as it used to.
Newborn Callie helps keep her mind on the future.
Kindel was 35 weeks pregnant when her family had to leave Denare Beach, along with hundreds of others who were ordered to evacuate the northern village on May 28. At the time, she told CBC News she was experiencing contractions, often called false labor, likely triggered by the stress. She was hospitalized for a short time.
“The stress of everything and multiple days of not having any sleep, I went into preterm labor,” she said.
Just days later, her house and almost everything her family owned burned down.
A month later, on June 28, Callie was born.
“I’m lucky … it’s weird to say lucky,” said Kindel during an interview at her temporary home, a rental house in Saskatoon.
“My parents’ house [in Denare Beach] burned too. So they’re here evacuated with us, so that’s been really helpful. So many people lost everything. It’s just so hard to even comprehend. And I’ve got such a good distraction with this beautiful baby.”
Callie’s older brothers — Jackson, 4, and toddler Logan — are still adjusting to their new home in an unfamiliar city. They miss their friends and the beach.
Kindel’s husband Kyle initially stayed in Denare Beach to fight the fire, as did Kindel’s dad. Her husband eventually joined the family in Saskatoon when she began experiencing the false labor, but now he’s back on the front line of wildfire season, this time in the Beauval area.
“We’re a good team and thankfully Callie gives us decent sleep in the night so we’re not up every two hours on the dot as we were with our other kids,” Kindel said.
The wildfire destroyed more than 200 permanent residences in Denare Beach and Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation’s Denare Beach reserve, which is adjacent to the village.
In the aftermath, some residents are questioning the provincial government’s response to the fire and support for evacuees as they recover and rebuild entire blocks of homes in the remote community.
Many are waiting on mandatory environmental assessments before rebuilding. Foundations need to be poured before the snow flies.
Kindel was raised in Denare Beach but lived elsewhere for a good chunk of her adult life. The family moved to Denare just over a year ago.
They intend to rebuild with plenty of fire protection, like a tin roof and ember catchers on vents.
“We were outside all the time on the lake.… It’s like living at your cabin with full services and a comfy bed,” Kindel said. “For us, there’s nowhere else that we could even imagine going.”
Her parents are lifelong Denare Beach residents and will rebuild too. Mom Debbie Knutson said she’s only ever lived in two houses and the wildfire destroyed both.
Like her daughter, Knutson didn’t pack much in the rush to leave. She thought they’d be home in a few days.
“If we knew we were walking out for the very last time, I think we would have grabbed a lot more — the hand-knitted things that my mom made that she can no longer make anymore,” Knutson said.
“That’s what hit me the hardest, [losing] my keepsakes.”
Kindel isn’t sure when they can move back. Starting from scratch is daunting, especially with a newborn.
“I just wish that I could hold my baby and snuggle her and maybe watch a chick flick and eat some ice cream and do the normal things that you do with postpartum where everyone calls and asks, ‘How’s the baby sleeping? How’s the baby eating?” Kindel said.
“I really hope that I can find a way to not have this be her story.”