Manitoba wildfire evacuee heartbroken after his belongings got cleared out of hotel

It was a heartbreaking scene for wildfire evacuee David Bighetty on Wednesday morning, when he returned back to his hotel from a trip to help a friend, and all the belongings he had taken to escape the wildfires were gone.

“Everything was gone. All my sentimental value,” said Bighetty.

“It was my mom and dad’s wedding pictures. This year is their 50th anniversary.”

Bighetty left last week to comfort a friend who lost her grandson and attend the funeral in Thompson. He returned on Wednesday to an empty room.

It happened at the Courtyard by Marriott, a hotel near the airport. Bighetty said he had called the hotel to clean his room while he was gone, but he didn’t mean for them to take all his belongings.

“Where is my belongings?… My pictures I grabbed from home because I didn’t want them to burn.”

He says he talked to staff at the hotel, who referenced an email that went out from Red Cross, but he claims he never got it.

“Nobody told me anything, like your stuff is going to be removed. Your stuff is going to be thrown away,” he explained.

When he returned to the hotel, he got a paper that told evacuees to be out by Thursday — but he says his stuff was already gone and couldn’t be found on Wednesday.

“Don’t you have a policy where they have a procedure where they store that stuff?” he asked.

Messages from the Red Cross instructed him to go meet with workers to get another hotel room, which he did. But it remains empty except for the suitcase he took to Thompson and the clothes on his back.

“This is all I have now,” Bighetty explained.

The Red Cross and Marriott Hotels did not respond to requests for comment at this time. Bighetty is also waiting to hear back from the Red Cross about next steps.

“All we have to do is wait.”