Photos courtesy of Mary Sherley Fenimore
Thousands of kilometres of forests continue to burn and more than a dozen areas remain under mandatory evacuation orders in Northern Ontario. While the air quality in the 705 has improved since last week, smoke still blankets much of the province.
The Candler family is from the United States and has been vacationing at Ahmic Lake for seven generations. With such a long history, they have grown to love the area – and local residents. When Sam Candler spotted smoke near his Ahmic Lake cottage, he knew that the flames were close to home.
“We were pretty sure it was going to be a big one, so we went right to the fire pump,” Sam told 705BLACKFLY.COM.
The fire was on an island, but it was close enough to cottages that sparks could have caused damage. Sam and his father spotted the smoke and immediately responded with their fire pump. Fellow residents soon followed with buckets, shovels and chainsaws. Through teamwork – and grit – the residents managed to douse the flames.
Ahmic cottager Mary Sherley Fenimore was among the people who responded. She wrote in a Facebook post, “It was 100% an example of what makes Ahmic so incredibly special. We are a family like no other and do whatever it takes, whenever needed to protect each other.”
“Today’s fire could have been a true nightmare like we are seeing elsewhere in Canada,” Mary says. “Thanks to the tremendous efforts of our mighty band of awesome community members who sprung into action, we dodged a disaster.”
The cause of the fire is unknown but Sam urges everyone to be prepared at all times.
“(Make) sure you have a fire kit on the go. We had ours in the boat in less than a minute only because we were prepared in advance.”
To hear Sam’s firsthand account of the incident, click on the audio file for our 705BLACKFLY.COM exclusive interview.
