Fire destroyed Sid Fiddler’s cabin that he planned to use to host sweat lodge ceremonies during the winter. Image courtesy of Sid Fiddler

 

Last weekend fire destroyed a log house on the Waterhen Lake First Nation that an Elder planned to use to host sweat lodge ceremonies.

Sid Fiddler just finished building the cabin and was preparing to host his first ceremony last Saturday.

He spread out his frozen tarps to dry inside the log building.

Fiddler then left to go into town to buy tobacco and some other items needed for the sweat lodge ceremony.

“When I came back into Waterhen, the building was already on fire, it was already a little too far gone to be saved,” said Fiddler. “The canvas that was by the stove probably ignited and that’s what probably started the fire.”

Fiddler spent two years and about $30,000 building the log house.

He said he invested money from his Indian Residential School settlement for the project.

“You don’t want to believe it, you also feel hopeless,” said Fiddler. “I also feel like I made a really big mistake leaving it.”

A Facebook page entitled Sid’s Sweathouse Rebuild Campaign is set up to help Fiddler raise money for the rebuild.