A volunteer who has been focusing her efforts on helping fire evacuees in Carbonear is not sure that some people on the Conception Bay North Shore will want to rebuild once they’re allowed back into their communities.

As of yesterday, 203 buildings that had been hooked up to power were gone. The biggest losses were in Western Bay, with an estimated 86 structures gone, including the local school, and 59 structures destroyed in neighbouring Ochre Pit Cove.

Robyn Dwyer and her husband Scott’s home in Blackhead is one of the dozens of structures destroyed in the town of Small Point, Broad Cove, Blackhead and Adam’s Cove.

Despite that, they’ve been doing their best to tend to the needs of evacuated residents at Carbonear Academy, and trying to keep their spirits up.

Support will be needed beyond evacuation centre says volunteer

She says while many people have been notified, she doesn’t believe the reality will hit many until the evacuation orders are lifted.

“That’s when we really need to shift our focus and into the recovery phase,” says Dwyer who was also affected by wildfires when she was living in High Level, Alberta in 2018. “I’m hoping that all that support continues on beyond the evacuation centre.”

Some may not want to build on burnt land

She’s not sure some people will even want to rebuild given a variety of circumstances, including how the fire started to begin with.

“We don’t know what we’re coming into,” says Dwyer. “I mean, there’s going to be people that are not going to want to build on burnt land.” She says some people are also worried that it could happen again. “This is the 12th fire we’ve had in the area since May 7th. There are people that, even if they haven’t lost their homes, are afraid to go back, because they’re afraid that another fire is going to get set, and they might not be so lucky this time.”