Enterprise couple hailed heroes as residents return to near total loss of N.W.T. hamlet

It is the first community to greet you when you cross the Alberta border into the Northwest Territories, a small hamlet home to hardworking and big-hearted northerners. Some people have been here for decades.

But the roadside community of Enterprise, N.W.T. now resembles a warzone. Homes and livelihoods are melted away in a twisted searing heap. The casualty of a fast-moving and relentless wildfire still taunting neighboring communities.

“Everything is gone. I thought I’d be able to find something,” said Paul Flamand as he walked up to his decimated property for the first time since being evacuated.

“I saw one picture but I didn’t expect this. Miles and miles of town are just gone,” he said with tears in his eyes.

“Twenty-two years of happiness and joy and nightmares. Now it’s just a mess.”

Around 105 people live in Enterprise. About 95 percent of the community’s structures are gone. A fire break community members worked to build is still smoldering one week after flames moving up to 20 km/h wreaked havoc on the hamlet.

3:01 N.W.T. wildfires: Couple stays behind in Enterprise town to try and save homes

“There were no firefighters here. There was nobody here. We were the only ones here,” said Lyne Maisonneuve.

Maisonneuve and her partner Mike Kimble defied the evacuation order and returned hours after being evacuated. The couple said a crew from High Level stopped briefly to help, but with the hamlet ablaze in the middle of the night, the couple went to great lengths fighting back the flames all on their own.

“We managed to go get a bulldozer that was in the bush. We broke into the fire department and we stole a fire truck and water truck,” said Maisonneuve

The couple quickly doused a water tanker on fire and put it to use. The nozzle melted in the heat but is still operable.

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“This was crazy, this was dangerous. Maybe we’ll die, maybe we won’t. This is just the thing we need to do,” said Maisonneuve.

The couple not only saved their home but a string of houses on their street, including the house belonging to the mayor.

“The houses that are remaining are because of them. I wouldn’t have a home if it wasn’t for them, none of us would. They are heroes,” said Mike St. Amour, the mayor of Enterprise.

“My plans are to rebuild, we are going to rebuild that’s for sure.”

But many here feel like they were abandoned.

“It’s just unbelievable like we are a forgotten land, it’s like the people didn’t matter,” said Allan Kimble. The 67-year-old lost his home and also joined his brother and sister-in-law the next day putting out hot spots. He just had heart surgery six weeks ago.

According to the fire chief in nearby Hay River, the blaze was moving at speeds topping 20 km/h, and before communications lines were severed, they were told the fire was still 40 kilometers away.

“Enterprises got hit pretty fast and we weren’t able to get out there but we are assisting now, we have crews out there now protecting any remaining structures,” said Chief Travis Wright.

“We were trying to help the best we could it was unfortunate that it affected all those comms because people couldn’t get a hold of us but it’s not like we weren’t out there we were on the edge of the fire trying to help people the best we could,” said Wright.

The Hay River area also suffered damage to homes and structures just outside the town limits, the chief said it’s crews were said battling to protect.

Hay River’s Mayor Kandis Jameson teared up when asked about Enterprise. She said the little community fed and watered them when Hay River was evacuated by a devastating flood last year.

“I just can’t even talk about it, our hearts are breaking for them, they are our closest neighbors,” said Jameson, from the kitchen of that communities Legion Hall, where she is helping cook for front-line workers. Hay River is still evacuated.

While Mayor St. Amour wants to investigate the response to the disaster that nearly wiped out the entire hamlet, he said right now his priority is making sure residents have a place to go and are safe.

“I want to make people comfortable and we can play the blame game another day, but they can’t hide,” he said.

Those who lost everything are now attempting to have a vision for the future but it’s tough to see through all the soot and rubble.