The Sabina Lake Fire has been burning south of Ootsa Lake since a lightning strike near Sabina Lake in Tweedsmuir Park on July 19, 2024.  As of September 4, it has consumed well over 40,000 hectares, one of the largest in BC.    Currently there are over 140 personnel on site  including the Cheslatta Carrier Nation fire team that has been actioning the fire  from the beginning.

 Initially, the fire was issued a number R11209 by the Wildfire Service.  At the request of the Cheslatta Chief and Council, the BC Wildfire Service has officially named the fire after Sabina Louie, one of Chief Louie鈥檚 daughters.

Old photos of people are always worth studying...

Sabina was about 14 when surveyor Frank Swannell took this December 1911 photo at Chief Louie's home at Cheslatta Lake (where the annual Cheslatta Campout is held).      

She sports fashioned curls in her hair.  Study her hands.  Hard working hands with callouses on the tops of her knuckles.  She has a ring on her right hand and wears a sash around her waist.  The safety pin seems to hold some kind of treasure. On her feet, she is wearing a brand-new pair of shoes.

You'll see a blanket protruding at the bottom of her dress.         Oral history relates that when Swannell asked to take photos of sisters Rose and Sabina, their mother Agathe told the girls to put on their best dresses, but she made them wear a blanket underneath so that they wouldn鈥檛 get their dresses dirty!  Mary Quaw, Rose's daughter, always loved to tell that story.

Unfortunately, Sabina became ill some time after this photo was taken and passed away.  

Chief Louie's photo was taken about 1949 at his home on Cheslatta Lake.  He would have been in his early 80's.  The original full photo shows a pure white horse harnessed to the wagon.

It has always been told that Sabina was loved by all that knew her and that Chief Louie and Agathe were very proud of Sabina and her sister Rose.  Famous surveyor Frank Swannell was a good friend of Chief Louie and he took quite a few photos of the family around their homes at Cheslatta and Ootsa Lake.

It seems probable that Frank Swannell was deeply touched when he got the news that Sabina had died.  Then, when he was drawing the final maps of his Ootsa-Cheslatta Survey, he did what needed to be done.  In his distinctive penmanship, Swannell carefully titled: 鈥淪abina Lake鈥�, a small jewel south of Ootsa Lake that flowed n to a bigger lake that he labeled with a flourishing hand: 鈥淐hief Louie鈥�.  Thus, forever more, Sabina鈥檚 waters perpetually give life to Chief Louie, whose water make the Chelaslie River, eventually flowing to the sea over a thousand miles away.

Contributed by Mike Robertson and Nolan Thiffault, Cheslatta Carrier Nation Archives.  2024