Carla Ulrich | CBC News | Posted: May 17, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Community is long way from recovery, residents say

Once a tight-knit hamlet of around 100 people, residents say the community is torn and still a long way from recovery, both physically and emotionally.

"It was a nice community," said Charlie Sutherland, who has lived in Enterprise for 15 years. "You used to go out Sunday morning, walk your dog, talk to your neighbours."

Sutherland and his wife lost everything in the fire. Like many others, they fled with only a few changes of clothes and essential documents, thinking they'd return in a few days.

"I never had anything hit me so hard in my life. It just changes a person's attitude on life," he said. "I know it changed my life that day — our life."

The couple was fortunate enough to have insurance and some savings. By November 2023, they were living in a new trailer where their house once stood. But many others haven't been so lucky.

Sutherland's home is still surrounded by several cleared-out lots. He pointed to a few new homes that have popped up, but said most uninsured residents have given up.

He said the community feels divided. Some of the tension comes from the divide between insured and non-insured residents, but the hamlet has also struggled with political tension.

Sutherland is hopeful, but he isn't sure he'll see it in his lifetime.

"People just lost faith," he said over the loss of connection. "To make a community, everybody's got to work together."

Still, Sutherland said they are not going anywhere. "It's your home, it's your work, your friends and family," he said. "It's hard to just pick up and walk away."

Kathy Beaupré understands loss. A year before the fire, she lost her home, most of her sled dog team, and reptiles in a devastating flood at the Fox Farm, just outside of Enterprise. She and her roommate had to be rescued from their rooftop.

Hamlet officials later offered them a place to live in Enterprise. That house was spared by the wildfire, and Beaupré said she's grateful to still be in the community. Although there is tension, she feels optimistic.

"It's been stressful since the fire, of course," she said. "I feel like the community is coming along slowly, but in any tragedy like that, there's gonna be bumps."

She says some residents have chosen to move on, and she understands that. However, the ones who have stayed are committed to rebuilding the community and focus on the healing process.

"I hope it will slowly rebuild and come back together," Beaupré said. "When you talk to people individually, there are different views. But I'm hopeful."

Pat Coleman and his wife moved to Enterprise in May 2023, hoping for a fresh start. The year before, they lost their Paradise Gardens home in a flood and were settling into their new home when the wildfire forced them to evacuate.

"I just got insurance on it two weeks prior," he said. "Lucky me."

Coleman thinks half of the residents have not returned since the fire. He said the community is noticeably quieter and scattered, and the emotional weight is still heavy.

"Everybody's mind is still caught up in the events of the last two years," Coleman said. "It bothers people probably more than they think it did, even though they probably don't admit it."

Although he feels the disconnect, he said those who did stay are doing their best to rebuild and support each other.

Coleman, who first moved to the hamlet in 1979 before relocating to Paradise Gardens, said Enterprise is and always has been defined by determination and resiliency.

"It's a pioneer sort of an attitude," he said. "Enterprise is built on a couple of gas stations at a crossroads … it was always the go-getters that were here. And I don't think that's going to change."