Red Cross volunteer describes his first time helping evacuees in eastern Manitoba

A Canadian Red Cross volunteer is back in Winnipeg after helping to evacuate residents from approaching wildfires between Little Grand Rapids and Pauingassi First Nations.

Dale Hutchison, who is new to the Support to Evacuation and Repatriation Team, said he got the call late Wednesday night to attend to the unfolding situation in eastern Manitoba.

He recalled running into some problems in the morning, which began at the airport as he anxiously waited to assist in an evacuation for the first time.

“There was smoke in the communities, so we had to wait,” he said. “We actually got halfway there on the flight and we had to turn around because there was some equipment malfunction.”

READ MORE: Manitoba evacuees anxious as wildfires continue to burn

Hutchison said he then boarded another small plane, which flew at a lower altitude as it approached Little Grand Rapids on Thursday.

“You really get a sense of what you’re going into because as you get closer to where you’re going, you start to see the fires and the smoke,” he said “Then you go into it and land and there are a lot of people right at the airport, sort of waiting to be evacuated.”

Hutchison and his partner, Ellie Cansfield, were supposed to return home that same day. Instead, they were forced to stay in the smoky community overnight.

“Weather was a big part of it,” Hutchison said. “It was also the number of evacuees; we didn’t anticipate so many.”

The last two flights were canceled around midnight Thursday. Hutchison said he didn’t mind making last minute sleeping arrangements.

“We came up just that day, so I don’t think it was too bad for us,” he said “For other people there, they’d been there…in a very stressful situation for days and days.”

READ MORE: Royal Canadian Air Force assisting evacuation in Little Grand Rapids

Hutchison got back to Winnipeg Friday afternoon and said he learned a lot.

“In the 24 hours I got a terrific amount of experience.”

As of Saturday, the Manitoba government said the wildfire covered over 25,000 hectares and is about four kilometres from Pauingassi.