Surviving a whirlwind year after losing her home in a wildfire
By Joan Janzen
LEADER – Meri-Jo Friesen-Rowe has a heart filled with compassion for communities ravaged by wildfires. It brings back memories of losing her own home in the Denare Beach wildfire in the spring of 2025.
Today Meri-Jo and her husband live in Leader, Sask. But in May of 2025 they left their home in Denare Beach, located 21 km from Flin Flon and 20 km from the Manitoba border.
Meri-Jo Friesen-Rowe and her husband lost their Denare Beach home in the spring 2025 wildfire. They now make their home in the welcoming community of Leader. "I've never waved to people so much!" Meri-Jo said. PHOTO COURTESY MERI-JO FRIESEN-ROWE
Before and after. Meri-Jo Friesen-Rowe's home in Denare Beach, and the lot as it looked when the couple returned a month after the fire swept through in June 2025. PHOTOS COURTESY MERI-JO FRIESEN-ROWE
On May 25, 2025, Meri-Jo and her assistant were working in her home office. "We looked up and saw a huge plume of smoke out of my office window," she said. She immediately contacted the village office and was informed there was a fire around a mining operation and they were being evacuated.
"That day my son happened to be working at the mine," she said. "My thoughts shifted from the plume of smoke to my son's safety." Once she was able to reach out to him, she discovered he had returned to town and was safe. The community was alerted of an upcoming evacuation notice.
"We had planned to go on a holiday and decided to leave a few days early. We took our camper, packed our dogs, our summer clothes and headed out," she said. It was May 28. They only had one road in and out of the community and there was no cellular service. Soon after their departure, a mandatory evacuation for Denare Beach, Flin Flon and Creighton was announced.
"We were on our way to Nipawin to visit family and then made our way to our daughter's home in Leader," she reported. On June 2, they had just finished setting up their camper at their daughter's home when Meri-Jo began receiving notifications on her phone. She said it was the most surreal feeling knowing the exact path of the fire as it set off all the sensors throughout their home. The alerts began at 7:52 p.m. when the fire reached their garage, and the final alert was received minutes later at 8:27 p.m.
"It was shocking and traumatic!" Meri-Jo stated. "It burned very quickly and very hot and took out absolutely everything. It disintegrated our foundation to dust, that's how hot it was. It wiped out half the community."
Eleven structural firefighters faced a 250-foot wall of flames. She said some of them had fought fires for 30 years and had never been afraid of a fire, but that one scared them.
And Meri-Jo quickly expressed her sincere appreciation, saying, "They're volunteer structural firefighters and they need to know how much we appreciated their efforts and how grateful I am that they survived and no one got hurt."
A month after the fire the couple went back to have a look. "I can't even describe the feeling; it was devastating," she said. "Before the fire I put logs in the fire pit and the fire pit wasn't touched by the fire but everything around it was evaporated."
As she and her husband sat on the frames of their deck chairs, a man came by and introduced himself as their insurance adjuster. Meri-Jo said it was such an important moment, and they quickly learned he was there to help them navigate through this difficult process. They consider themselves very fortunate, since some of their neighbours are still dealing with insurance issues more than a year later.
Compiling their list of possessions was the most difficult task for Meri-Jo, as the list brought back a flood of memories. "I had my grandfather's sailor uniform from WWII. Those are things you can't get back," she said. It's a precious personal treasure that may have little monetary value.
She advised people to open drawers and take pictures of everything that's inside because they all have value.
"When you're going through something traumatic, it's nice to reflect back on those things. It helps you through the process," she advised.
They also received an outpouring of assistance from people in the area. Small gestures like receiving a handmade quilt meant a lot, and the Red Cross provided counselling, support and checked in to see how they were getting along.
"Emotionally we were working through the trauma but we had family support all the way around," she said. "My husband and I wanted to move on."
Since they had intended to move to Leader some time in the future, they began to consider making the move sooner rather than later. One day while taking a drive, a particular house caught Meri-Jo's attention. "I thought it was a great house but it wasn't for sale," she recalled. However, one month later when it came up for sale, they purchased it.
"It was almost the exact footprint of the home we used to have. It was uncanny," she said. "I very quickly felt at home in the community of Leader. All the surrounding areas of Leader have been so kind. I've never waved to people so much!" Meri-Jo chuckled. They find the warm welcome heart-warming, especially after the trauma they experienced.
"We couldn't be happier being here in Leader, starting to adopt the community, and the community adopting us," she said. They also love being close to their daughter, son-in-law and grandkids.
Now that their lives have calmed down after enduring a whirlwind year, Meri-Jo expressed a heartfelt message for people whose property remained untouched in a wildfire.
"I just want people to never feel guilty because their properties survived and others didn't. It's something to be grateful for. Just take that and do some good things with it," she advised.