'Our hearts were pounding': Sask. canoeists helicoptered out due to forest fire

A group of Saskatchewan paddlers had to cut a canoe trip short and be taken out by helicopter due to a nearby forest fire.

The eight-person group was almost done a 10-day trip onClearwater River in northern Saskatchewan when they noticed a lot of smoke around them.

They paddled to the shore of Rendevous Lake. A member of the group used a satellite phone to contact his wife and found outthere was a forest fire five kilometres away from them.

Canoeists in northern Sask. rescued as forest fire approaches

3 years ago

Duration 1:40

A group on a canoe trip in northern Sask. were airlifted out of the area when a forest fire presented a threat.

"It was moving our way, so it was getting closer. You could tell it was getting bigger and bigger, so we were getting quite concerned," said Kathy Jones, a member of the eight-person canoeing group.

The group noticed a helicopter circling the area. It dropped off a crew member, who crossed a bog and made his way over to speak with the paddlers.

The helicopter then lowered a radio to the crew member and told him to make a clearing so the helicopter could land. The group got out their saws and hatchets to help create a spot.

Thecrewtold the group they had been planning to do acontrolled burn very close to where the group was. Had they done that, the group would have seen a wall of fire in front of them.

"Our hearts were pounding, the adrenaline pumping. We were very lucky. We didn't realize how bad it was until that happened," Jonessaid.

She said it would have terrified them because they wouldn't have known what was happening.

The crew gave the group the option to stay or leave. If they chose to stay there was no guarantee of arescue later.

The group decided the safer option was to leaveand packed up their gear. It took three trips for thechopperto take the group to La Loche.

The group left their canoes at the site. Workers pulled the canoes into a bog so the fire would burn around them.Jonessaidshe hopes to get the canoes back when it's safe to do so.