Paul Flamand dug through the ashes of his burned-down home in a hamlet known as the gateway to the Northwest Territories.
The building was lost to a raging wildfire that tore through Enterprise within a matter of hours in August. But a piece of his heart held onto hope that one thing may have survived—his grandfather’s ring.
He saw a slight shining in the debris, and there it was.
Enterprise, a community of about 100 people on the highway north of the Alberta boundary, lost 80 percent of its structures.
Local leaders are wondering why there was so much destruction.
“But did it have to get to that point? Those are the questions we’re asking.”
The hamlet traces its humble beginnings to a gas station built soon after the Mackenzie Highway from Grimshaw, Alta., was completed in 1948.
Enterprise grew into a settlement and quickly became an important stop for people travelling by road to the North. In the decades that followed, motels and a general store popped up and more people came.
While the growth was never dramatic, in 2007 it officially became a hamlet and Porter said it had big plans to start building a new subdivision to keep people coming.
“Then, Sunday morning the winds were just crazy,” Porter said.
Around noon, there was a huge smoke cloud breaking through the otherwise blue sky and Porter said officials called the territory’s Municipal and Community Affairs department for information.
Councillors decided they’d start telling residents to leave anyway.
Not long after, an emergency alert buzzed on every Enterprise resident’s phone and television. The wildfire threat was imminent. They had to get out.
“There was no time,” Porter said. ”It was a wall of smoke. I’ve never seen that before. It was from ground to sky. You couldn’t see anything above it.”
Porter’s children left with their grandparents as he worked with other leaders, local firefighters and RCMP to ensure everyone made it out. When he finally left town at about 8:30 p.m., he knew it was going to be bad.
“(It was) like you are driving through hell.”
Many community members say Mike Kimble, his partner Lyne and brother Allan are the reason any structures are left standing. The three have described how they returned quickly and spent days putting out spot fires in Enterprise.
Still, burned-out cars, the remnants of homes and melted copper sit at the end of most residential driveways.
Community members questioned why there weren’t more firefighting efforts on the ground to save more houses.
Ron Bonnetrouge, who represents Enterprise in the territorial legislature, has called for answers since the legislative assembly resumed last month.
Shane Thompson, the minister for environment and climate change, has said there were firefighting efforts by air and on ground since the blaze was spotted on Aug. 2. Thompson has said extreme wind and environmental conditions were to blame. He also said crews weren’t on the ground to put out spot fires associated with buildings in Enterprise because wildfire crews aren’t trained to deal with those.
About 20 people have returned to the small highway-side hamlet, some staying in recreational vehicles outside the gas station.
Flamand is building a temporary living space in his plumbing business so his children have somewhere to sleep over the winter. Between his insurance company and the territorial government, he doesn’t have much hope he can start to rebuild anytime soon.
“I’m better off than a lot of the guys in town. At least I’ve got somewhere.”