Last evening we spoke with our granddaughters. They will be arriving in less than two weeks to spend a week at our cabin on Rainy Lake. They were excited and told my wife and me all their expectations for their week. Swimming, hiking the island, making blueberry pancakes, crafts, fishing and any new adventure that their grandparents could dream up.
We could pick them off the ceiling in Calgary. Two weeks can’t come fast enough for our five- and seven-year-old granddaughters. Coming to Rainy Lake for a vacation is a year-long dream. It is a dream that my parents hoped for when they purchased the raw property 60 years ago. They wanted a place on Rainy Lake that would become a family treasure at which their grandkids and great-grandkids would want to spend time.
The cabin was built stick by stick. It was rough with exposed studs. Eventually, walls for bedrooms were erected, the cabin insulated, electricity arrived and bonds with the island were strengthened. Canoes, peddle boats, sailboats and other leisure craft found their way to Turtle Island.
One weekend, a small fire erupted on a corner of the island, and firefighters extinguished it in a day. Two islands south of the island burned completely while being doused with water dropped by Ontario water bombers. Another nearby fire was extinguished by the Watten fire department in late October.
Every summer season, we worry about our island going up in smoke. There is enough downed timber lying about to create a hot fire that could engulf the island in a matter of hours. It is a worry that the three cottage families on the island fear.
We drove across northern Ontario last week, much of it in smoky fog from the fires burning in our region. We saw the devastation from the fire that burned across the highway between Sapawe and Quetico North. Quetico Park was closed, as were the picnic areas along Highway 11 between Atikokan and Thunder Bay. The heat of that fire had burned everything down to bedrock.
Today there are still over 100 fires burning in Ontario. Our firefighters are stretched thin, and Mexico has sent firefighters to both Ontario and British Columbia. As cabin owners on Rainy Lake, we depend on firefighters to protect us.
Times are changing. This year we have experienced drought conditions and higher-than-normal temperatures from global warming. Our forests are under stress.
From the smoke and evacuation orders, we have learned how quickly our Rainy Lake cabin could disappear.
