Cabin owner documents 'haunting' destruction of East Trout Lake, Sask., by wildfire

Hannah Spray · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 03, 2025 5:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Nathan Pitka says it was a hard travel up to East Trout Lake, Sask., to spot the implicit devastation to the townsite.

He had seen the drone footage released by the province last week that showed an overhead presumption of the flattened cabins, but it didn't afloat hole him for what it was similar connected the ground.

"What we saw was haunting," Pitka said successful an interrogation connected Tuesday.

"We were astatine a nonaccomplishment of words to what we saw. The full assemblage had been devastated. There wasn't a azygous operation lasting successful the community."

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Pitka's extended household had 5 cabins astatine East Trout Lake, astir 150 kilometres northbound of Prince Albert. He had gone up determination past month and planned to walk the summertime there, similar usual. But erstwhile the evacuation bid from the edifice subdivision came connected May 21, helium packed up and left.

One week later, Pitka got the quality that the Shoe occurrence had burned through. That occurrence is inactive the biggest 1 burning successful the province, past measured astatine much than 400,000 hectares arsenic of Tuesday morning.

Pitka has been staying successful Saskatoon. On Saturday, helium travelled up to East Trout Lake to papers the devastation for himself and the different compartment owners.

He shared the footage from his dashcam with CBC News, showing the travel up past Candle Lake and done the forest.

WATCH | Wildfire evacuee shares haunting images of East Trout Lake region: 

"We thought it was important for ourselves, but besides to fto others successful the assemblage spot the grade of the harm and devastation," Pitka said.

He described areas of scorched wood with thing but stumps. The entity was acheronian with fume and fires were inactive smouldering successful the ditches.

Piles of metallic and factual are each that's near of the cabins. He took photos of each tract to stock with different compartment owners, truthful others wouldn't person to marque the journey.

Pitka said helium and his household are grieving the demolition astatine East Trout Lake, which is "more than a location" — it's been the gathering tract for his household for astir 50 years.

"I deliberation I'm speaking for a batch of the residents that are retired there," helium said. "These person been multi-generational cabins and utilized year-round for connecting with the onshore and escaping the stresses of life."

His household is moving connected however they're going to enactment connected this year, without their beloved gathering place.

On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) president Marlo Pritchard took a infinitesimal astatine the commencement of his regular briefing to admit the "fear of the unknown" for those waiting to spot what volition hap to their homes, and the nonaccomplishment that others person already experienced.

"I truly privation to admit and springiness my thoughts and prayers to those that person been impacted directly, oregon indirectly, of these fires," Pritchard said. "There's a fig of individuals that person mislaid property; we've had a fig of individuals evacuated … that are sitting, waiting to perceive whether their spot has been impacted."

On Monday, parts of the Northern Village of Denare Beach were consumed by the Wolf occurrence arsenic it encroached connected the community, adjacent the Manitoba borderline successful the province's northeast.

La Ronge and surrounding communities were evacuated Monday arsenic the Pisew occurrence approached from the north. Evacuees reported scary, agelong journeys southbound successful convoys done flames and fume from 2 different fires successful the area — the Shoe and Ditch02 fires.

About 8,000 radical person been evacuated from bluish Saskatchewan owed to wildfires truthful far, according to the SPSA.

As of Tuesday afternoon, determination were 21 wildfires burning successful the state and the year-to-date full is 230, acold supra the five-year mean of 132 fires for the aforesaid period.

WATCH | First look astatine devastation for East Trout Lake spot owners:

Up-to-date info connected progressive fires, fume and related topics is disposable astatine these sources:

• Interactive Sask. progressive occurrence map.
• Fire information map.
• Fire bans.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada upwind alerts.
• Sask. Highway Hotline.
• Smoke forecast.
• Air quality.
• Tracking wildfires crossed Canada.