Family staying in Moosomin after fleeing from fires
June 9, 2025, 11:59 am
Kara Kinna
Bobby and Chelsi Brown, along with their three children and pet dog, have been on the raod for almost two weeks after being evacuated from their home in Creighton, Saskatchewan, where wildfires continue to blaze.
The couple are currently staying with friends and family in the Moosomin area.
“Creighton, Saskatchewan, is a border town with Flin Flon, Manitoba on one side and Denare Beach, Saskatchewan on the other,” says Bobby Brown.
“A wildfire had started up just a couple of kilometers outside town. They could not get control of that fire, and it grew to a massive fire that joined up with two other fires that are burning. It has turned into a pretty wild situation up there.”
“Eighty per cent of Denare Beach was lost in one day,” says Chelsi. “That is where we went fishing, ice fishing, and did all kinds of stuff. Half of our town went there, and it is just gone.”
“It is very frustrating to be honest,” says Bobby. “Before we even got the evacuation notice, the company I work with, Big Ice Services, we had agreed and we had signed on with Saskatchewan Wildfires that we agreed to stay behind in the event of an evacuation, and of course when evacuation time came, I helped my wife and kids get out of town, and I stayed behind to help fight the fires. There was a lot of frustration going on because we were trying to find places for family to go, and I was trying to deal with staying home to try and fight the fires.”
“That whole area is thousands and thousands of people,” says Chelsi. Flin Flon alone has around 6,000 people living there, and that is just the one community. Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach—those are three communities, and then you have all of the little communities like Bakers Narrows, Schist Lake, Sourdough Bay, Cranberry, Portage, my dad lives at Twin Lakes—there are so many.
“Everyone is scrambling to try and find somewhere to go. Some residents came in from out of town, and they were just trying to get to their house so they could get some stuff to evacuate, because they were out of town at the time the fires started, and they left with just the clothes on their back.”
Bobby says the evacuation was mandatory, and they were given very limited time to get out.
“They gave us a certain time limit that you had to get out. I think we had about an hour and a half maybe two hours to pack up from the time I got to the house to help Chelsi. So basically we had to gather up our important belongings and then we had to hit the road.
“We filled up the boat with as much stuff as we could fit inside in the little amount of time we had. We got our boat, I had to leave my side-by side behind.”
“Bobby was working at the time, he was about 20 minutes away from our home. I knew the danger was coming so I had a few things packed,” says Chelsi. “All we got out was a suitcase with some clothes that all three kids are sharing, so not much, and we have just a tote of clothes for us, and a few toys and stuff so that the kids had something.
“I walked into my living room and was thought, what is the most important thing that cannot be replaced?
“My mother passed away, so I got some of her belongings, Bobby’s mother passed away, and we got some of her items, and that is about all we grabbed.”
“We probably could have took a little bit more time to pack up some things, but they said evacuate now and we just started panicking. We didn’t want to be in the huge lineup to get out of town,” says Bobby. “The Pas, Manitoba is 150 kilometers away, and normally that takes about an hour and 20 minutes to drive, and I was hearing reports from people in the evacuation line that were saying it was taking three to four hours to do that drive.”
“That wind too just helped the fire take off. So much wind and no rain, we usually have lots of rain in May, we had none, not even a drop,” says. Chelsi.
While Bobby stayed behind to help fight the wildfires, Chelsi, their three young children, and their family dog left Creighton to find a safe place to stay.
“The first time we got evacuated, we went to Twin Lake, which is about 30 kilometers from Flin Flon, which is where my dad lives. And then we got evacuated two more times,” she says.
“I was going 15-30 kilometers on a highway that is 100 kilometers an hour to get to my dad’s place. Which is one the way to The Pas.
“I saw six to eight ambulances going back and fourth just trying to transport people from our hospital to the other hospital in The Pas. Trying to get through that was insane. We were all trying to pull over so ambulances could get through on the one-lane or two-lane highway and it was crazy.
“Denare is one one-way in and out community, you go through Flin Flon, Creighton, and Denare is 18 kilometers from Creighton, with only one way in and out. They decided to evacuate all three communities at the same time, it was chaotic.
“When we got to my dad’s, we were hoping we could hold out there, and the fire would get under control. Then all of the sudden, two days later, it was getting dangerous towards Twin Lakes and we had to evacuate that area. We went up to Snow Lake, to my brother’s place, and were there for a few days.”
Bobby, along with several other volunteers stayed in Creighton to help the firefighters and emergency services contain the fires.
“We stayed for six days,” said Bobby. “I was supplying all of the water trucks with water along with three other co-workers that were with me. We were actually in Denare Beach when the fire rolled into Denare Beach. We were wetting down properties, and doing our best to try and save what we could when the fire did hit. The fire basically came over top of one of the islands. They called it a Rank 6 fire, which is the worst of the worst fires you could get.
“It basically just rolls across the treetops and doesn’t even touch the ground. That fire rolled in and we got the evac-notice over the radio to get out.
“All of the firefighters and emergency services had to pull out of Denare Beach and go back to Creighton for safety. It happened really fast. We didn’t even have time to stop and do a proper head count, we were doing head counts over the two-way radio as we were driving out of there. Fortunately all of our crew members did get out safely, but later that night, about four to five hours later, the wind changed direction and started pushing the fire directly towards Creighton. That is when we made our decision that we are not properly trained for this, we are volunteers that stayed behind to help. That is when we ultimately made the decision that it’s time to look at our safety and maybe it’s time for us to get out of here and let the firefighters handle it from here.
“The night after I left, I arrived at Snow Lake at about 4:30 am. I got maybe three to four hours of sleep, and then I got woke up to us being evacuated out of Snow Lake.”
“It honestly feels like an apocalypse when you are sitting up there,” says Chelsi. “Snow Lake is two and a half hours away from Flin Flon, and we were sitting there the one night, and it was just glowing orange.
“We decided to come straight down south where we don’t have to get chased out by fires again. I have family down here—my cousin, Dallas, and I’ve got a bunch of Ikert family down here.”
“We honestly don’t know where we will stay going forward,” says Bobby. “We are trying to line things up right now.”
Currently, the Brown family is staying with Chelsi’s cousin, Marc, on a farm just outside of Whitewood.
“It is kind of a stressful situation out there because we have our dog and a lizard, and our dogs get along with their dogs, but their dogs do not really like our dog, so it is really stressful on us,” says Bobby.
“We are trying to line up an RV or a camper or something where we could have our own space with our family.”
Chelsi says the whole ordeal has been stressful on her family, and especially on her kids.
“We have a 12-year old, almost-10-year-old, and six-year-old, and a very old 11-year-old dog. They have been stressed out, and they keep asking when we can go home,” says Chelsi. “My six-year-old just keeps breaking me. She says “mom can we go home now?’ I wish I could say yes, but I don’t know when we can go home. As of now our house is still standing, but it makes me nervous because it is right on the edge of town.
“The hard part is we keep seeing stuff about Creighton every day, how the fires are right on Creighton’s door step. The street they have been showing, is the street right behind ours. We don’t know if there is going to be a home to go to.”
The Browns say they set up a baby monitor in their house, and have been checking the monitor every single day.
“We left the monitor behind so we could watch, and it is still there, so that is how we are living right now,” says Chelsi.
“As long as we have power and internet back home, we can see inside our house. It just sucks because when you turn the sound on, there are alarms going off in the house from our security system, and it gives me anxiety when I hear it.”
“I have to give a shout-out to Denare Beach Fire Department. Over 80 per cent of the fire department lost their homes in the fire in a day,” says Bobby.
“They chose to try and save somebody else’s house while their house burned down. And here they are after losing their house, they are still with the Creighton Fire Department, trying to save Creighton.”
“Three of Bobby’s co-workers lost their home in the fire, two of them were part of the fire department, one of them had to leave because of mental exhaustion and one is still their trying to help fight fires,” says Chelsi.
Chelsi says it is the people that are helping everyone get through right now.
“People that understand that your life just got turned upside down. I was wearing my Flin Flon Bombers shirt, that is our team, and somebody saw my shirt and said ‘oh you are one of the evacuees, I am so sorry.’ She was so nice.”
“I have had many messages pour in asking if we need anything, and to not hesitates to reach out,” says Bobby. “People saying they will help in any way possible. I actually had to reach out to a friend on the way down to Moosomin, I was having problems with my boat trailer and my friends ended up pulling through and helping me out with that. There has been an incredible amount of support coming in.”
Chelsi and Bobby say if they have learned anything from this experience, it is to stay prepared for any emergency situation.
“Be prepared, always have a bag packed no matter where you live,” says Chelsi.
“Every summer, just have something, if you see anything about a fire. Make sure you have your favorite things, your most important things, in a safe somewhere that you can pick up and go.”
“Especially if you live in a northern community,” adds Bobby. “We are smack-dab in the middle of the boreal forest, so we know that forest fires are a common problem every year, but it’s like something you see in the movies, you never think it’s going to happen to you.
“When I left home that night, I left hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.”
The Browns says almost anything people can do to help is welcomed.
“Even just a coffee. When your are running from the fires. Yesterday we couldn’t believe how much a coffee felt good,” she says.
“We are okay. We have been living on the food from our fridges. Every place that we have evacuated, we had to take all of the food out of the fridges, but other people are having trouble with lots of different things. Pretty much everybody has got something that they need.
“I have noticed where people are setting up evacuation centres, they have baggies for people full of meals, and other essentials you don’t really think about, like socks. People have been so grateful for that. Especially the kids, the kids are missing their stuff more than anything.”
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