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Pinecrest opens doors to Northwood residents amid Red Lake forest fire

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Thirty residents of Northwood Lodge in Red Lake arrived in Kenora at Pinecrest on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m., due to an evacuation notice from a forest fire threatening the community.

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Red Lake Municipality issued a notice advising residents to leave last Monday night at around 9 p.m., due to Red Lake Fire 49 located two kilometres south of town. As of Friday afternoon, the fire is listed at 1,364 acres in size and is under control, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry fire map.

Northwood Lodge site administrator Kandice Henry was able to secure a bus from Dryden since there were no flights available. The bus, along with Henry and five Northwood Lodge staff members, and an ambulance drove all through the night from Red Lake on Tuesday. Pinecrest staff were awaiting the arrival of the residents help them settle in.

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Executive director with Pinecrest Kevin Queen said staff were able to use an empty transitional wing the Lake of the Woods District Hospital set up at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to house the newly-arrived residents, the auditorium and library were also utilized.

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The hospital and Seven Generations donated extra beds and hospital staff delivered them to Pinecrest. Salvation Army in Kenora also delivered some clothes to the residents from Red Lake.

“We maintained our infection control procedures,” Queen said. “All these residents were under the same restrictions that we have for Pinecrest so they were all within the bubble, so to speak.”

Northwood, which alongside Princess Court in Dryden and Pinecrest are all apart of the Kenora District Homes.

“In this case, it was a no-brainer, they’re our residents so we’re basically taking care of our residents,” Queen said, adding that there is a similar arrangement in place with Birchwood in Kenora in the event of a disaster.

Queen said Northwood staff have come down from Red Lake to assist with the added residents and families have come to do window visits. Queen commended the efforts from staff at Pinecrest and Northwood for working together and figuring out medical records and getting prescriptions.

“They all pulled together, doing the job making the residents feel as comfortable and welcome as possible,” he said. “It’s been really good. I couldn’t work with a better group of people.”

After getting past the initial chaos of settling everyone in, plans are now in place to repatriate Northwood residents when they are able to return to Red Lake. The MNRF lifted an implementation order Sunday morning, allowing residents to return to the community.

rstelter@postmedia.com

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