PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. — Trisha Halkett has one wish as she spends her second week out of her northern Saskatchewan home because of threatening wildfires.
She would like to be back in Montreal Lake when her second baby is due to arrive next month.
"I certainly hope so," said Halkett, 20, patting her stomach on a bench outside a Prince Albert hotel, her two-year-old daughter, Keirra, and husband Dudley Ross sitting by her side.
The family is among the more than 10,000 people who have fled as wildfires sweep across great swaths of northern forest.
Montreal Lake, about 130 kilometres north of Prince Albert, is normally home to about 1,800 residents. Now, it's a ghost town and about 200 Canadian soldiers are pushing through the bush trying to keep it safe.
A handful of houses have been destroyed, but Ross, 24, says the family has been lucky so far.
"I was worried at first that ours would go down because that's where the fire was," said Ross. "It missed our house and went another way."
Halkett said she just wants life to return to normal.
"It's boring. I would probably be outside playing with my three dogs, but I'm not too sure if they're alive or not."
Dorothy King Fisher is also eager to leave Prince Albert and get back to Montreal Lake.
Like Halkett, she is most worried about her dog named Weasel.
"It's kind of lonesome," she said. "I am kind of worried. I left my little puppy at the house, but my son is looking after it and goes there every day to feed it. I can always get another house, but I can't get the same dog."
After two weeks in Prince Albert, Henry Herman has had enough.
He says it isn't fire that's the danger in his hometown of La Loche — it's the smoke.
"I'm going to try and hitchhike home. I can go home and try and help out as much as I can," he said. "I was a little bit worried because of the smoke. Old people, young people, they were all evacuated, so they're safe now and in good hands."
The Saskatchewan government says it is doing everything it can to get people back.
"They're being very well cared for. They're in good facilities. The Red Cross, our Social Services folks, they're doing a good job of making sure everybody is safe," said Jim Reiter, Saskatchewan's minister of government relations.
"They are warm and well fed. It's difficult. Most of the centres have some mental-health counselling available for those who are struggling."
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