{"id":93461,"date":"2025-06-11T08:28:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=93461"},"modified":"2025-06-11T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T12:28:28","slug":"evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Evacuee recalls &#8216;surreal&#8217; escape as northern Ontario wildfire threatens  First Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Rianna Lim When Destiny Rae boarded the military airplane that was evacuating residents of her First Nation in northwestern Ontario on Sunday, she looked out the window and saw her community in a smoky haze. &#8220;It&#8217;s very surreal, you feel very sad,&#8221; Rae recalled. &#8220;I remember looking back at the airport terminal and thinking, &#8216;This is my home. I hope it&#8217;s here when I come back.&#8221; National Defence said CC-130 Hercules airplanes have been airlifting people out of Sandy Lake First Nation as a wildfire burns through the area, and more than 1,400 people had been evacuated as of Tuesday afternoon. Among the evacuees was Rae, who said she&#8217;s not sure when she&#8217;ll be able to return home \u2014 and what will be left standing \u2014 as a 1,500-square&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F11%2Fevacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Rianna Lim When Destiny Rae boarded the military airplane that was evacuating residents of her First Nation in northwestern Ontario on Sunday, she looked out the window and saw her community in a smoky haze. &#8220;It&#8217;s very surreal, you feel very sad,&#8221; Rae recalled. &#8220;I remember looking back at the airport terminal and thinking, &#8216;This is my home. I hope it&#8217;s here when I come back.&#8221; National Defence said CC-130 Hercules airplanes have been airlifting people out of Sandy Lake First Nation as a wildfire burns through the area, and more than 1,400 people had been evacuated as of Tuesday afternoon. Among the evacuees was Rae, who said she&#8217;s not sure when she&#8217;ll be able to return home \u2014 and what will be left standing \u2014 as a 1,500-square... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F11%2Fevacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Evacuee recalls &#039;surreal&#039; escape as northern Ontario wildfire threatens First Nation - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Evacuee recalls &#039;surreal&#039; escape as northern Ontario wildfire threatens First Nation - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Rianna Lim When Destiny Rae boarded the military airplane that was evacuating residents of her First Nation in northwestern Ontario on Sunday, she looked out the window and saw her community in a smoky haze. &#8220;It&#8217;s very surreal, you feel very sad,&#8221; Rae recalled. &#8220;I remember looking back at the airport terminal and thinking, &#8216;This is my home. I hope it&#8217;s here when I come back.&#8221; National Defence said CC-130 Hercules airplanes have been airlifting people out of Sandy Lake First Nation as a wildfire burns through the area, and more than 1,400 people had been evacuated as of Tuesday afternoon. Among the evacuees was Rae, who said she&#8217;s not sure when she&#8217;ll be able to return home \u2014 and what will be left standing \u2014 as a 1,500-square\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/11\/evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T12:28:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/11\\\/evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/11\\\/evacuee-recalls-surreal-escape-as-northern-ontario-wildfire-threatens-first-nation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Evacuee recalls &#8216;surreal&#8217; 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