WILDFIRE EVACUEES WHO LOST HOMES DEMAND ANSWERS OVER GROUNDED WATER BOMBERS

Sask. Party Plays Political Games As Evidence Mounts Of Failed Crisis Response

SASKATOON – The Saskatchewan NDP is standing with wildfire evacuees and demanding answers over five water bombers that remained grounded while communities in the North burned for weeks.

Sources have told the Official Opposition that four planes — legacy water bombers — were unfit to fly due to maintenance issues or a lack of available parts. A fifth bomber was newly purchased and arrived May 30, just after fire began to ravage homes, but the Sask. Party failed to train anyone to fly it.

“I’ve trained firefighters before, and I’ve fought forest fires before,” said Keri Lentowicz, a certified industrial firefighter whose home was burned to the ground at Denare Beach on June 2.

“This fire should never have reached the community. The government had four days to stop the fire. They should have been dumping water on the flames days before – but they didn’t. By the time we saw any planes, it was already too late. This is completely unacceptable. The government needs to answer why they left nearly half their fleet of air tankers sitting on the tarmac, collecting dust during the worst wildfires in a decade.”

Saskatchewan NDP Cumberland MLA Jordan McPhail spent much of Tuesday in Denare Beach, meeting with local leaders and surveying the widespread damage caused by the fires.

“There was one image that hit home for me — a dome toy built in someone’s backyard still standing but covered in soot and ash,” said McPhail, who, along with his family was evacuated for over a week from his home in La Ronge.

“My daughters have the same thing at our home in La Ronge. I built it for them. And it hit me that this could have been my family, my home.

“But in La Ronge we got lucky — we got rain eventually and the winds shifted. So many others here today that are still evacuated weren’t so fortunate.”

Sheri Parr’s husband has been fighting fires in Creighton for weeks.

“I have photos of him sleeping on the floor of the firehall, and we have had Facetimes where he walked around our house as we picked which sentimental items he needed to try and save,” she said. “I would like Scott Moe to think about that for one moment. Imagine my story was yours.

“This is what evacuees have been saying for weeks — where are the water bombers? Now we know. They are sitting collecting dust, while my husband works himself to the brink to save our community.”

McPhail said the Saskatchewan NDP will not stop demanding accountability for the Sask. Party’s failure to prepare and respond to the wildfire crisis.

“My message to the people of the North — and all of Saskatchewan, for that matter — is we don’t have to settle for this,” McPhail said.

“For a government that either doesn’t care or is completely incompetent — or both. We can demand better. For our families, for our communities, for our future.”

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