For an update on the wildfire situation in B.C., visit: Progress made on several B.C. wildfires but many still rage.
British Columbians have flung open their doors to welcome evacuees from wildfires, but government officials are warning space in the province is limited.
“The reality is British Columbia does not have the accommodations for those thousands and thousands of additional evacuees,” said B.C.’s Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma, while emphasizing the province was doing everything it could to support Albertan residents and tourists making their way through the province.
About 4,700 residents of the mountain town of Jasper and hundreds of tourists from the surrounding national park were told to leave late Monday night as wildfire advanced toward the community.
With highways east toward Edmonton closed, they were asked to take a mountain road along Highway 16 into British Columbia where traffic was bumper-to-bumper and slow moving.
The nearest community was Valemount, B.C., where a welcome centre was immediately set up and residents rallied to find space for people to rest.
Stephanie Goertz and her family of four say they’ve been on the road for several hours after evacuating Jasper, Alta., due to wildfires in the area. She shares her family’s experience with CBC Morning Live.
600 jammed into campsite meant for 100
Brian Oates is the manager of the Valemount Pines Golf & RV Park, which normally has a capacity of about 100. By Tuesday morning, he said, there were close to 600 people staying on his grounds.
“We said come here, stay with us as long as you need — we are here to help you and it’s free of charge, as well,” he said in an interview with CBC News.
“Seeing everybody coming here crying, they are upset and I’m glad we get to be able to brighten them up a little.”
Brian Oates says he wants to provide some relief to stressed-out evacuees as they make their way through B.C., so he’s providing a free place to stay for more than 600 people at his Valemount RV park.
Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson said the entire community of just over 1,000 people came together to help, from the grocery store opening its doors in the middle of the night, to residents opening up their living rooms and campgrounds. He himself spent some time directing traffic as hundreds of people began arriving in the dark.
“It takes a village,” he said.
But even with that generosity, there is limited space in Valemount and by 4:35 a.m. MT a notice on the municipality of Jasper’s website was posted telling evacuees that the community was full.
Daybreak North6:23Valemount overwhelmed by Jasper evacuees
Mayor Owen Torgerson says many people slept in their vehicles
Day-long drives ahead for some evacuees
While drivers are being asked to stop and rest as needed, those seeking official support from the Alberta government are being directed to two emergency reception centres in Grande Prairie and Calgary.
That means many more hours of driving, as people take Highway 16 through Prince George to head to Grande Prairie — a more than 900-kilometre drive — or head to Calgary via Kamloops, a journey of more than 1,000 kilometres.
Communities on the road say they are prepared to help evacuees in any way they can.
With space in B.C. limited, thousands of wildfire evacuees from Jasper are being told to take a circuitous route back to Calgary or Grande Prairie, with B.C. residents offering support along the way. Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell and Emergency Operations Minister Bowinn Ma discuss the situation.
In Prince George, the city said an emergency reception centre, already set up to take evacuees from wildfires burning in B.C., was ready to help, and officials were awaiting further direction from B.C. and Alberta.
In Facebook groups, residents posted offers of room, food and other donations.
In Clearwater, along Highway 5 north of Kamloops, Mayor Merlin Blackwell said although hotel rooms are full, the local tourism association has been putting together a list of resources available for people passing through. Businesses have opened early to make sure people have access to food, bathrooms and other essentials.
“People seem to be organically finding people to [help],” he said.
Goal is to provide ‘safe passage’
Blackwell was interviewed on CBC’s The Early Edition alongside Emergency Management Minister Ma, who said she was “incredibly grateful” for the offers of help that had been streaming in from British Columbians.
Ma said the Alberta government is directing evacuees back to Calgary and Grande Prairie, so B.C.’s primary focus is to “provide them safe passage” and “provide them whatever support we can as British Columbians.”
She noted many of the communities welcoming evacuees from Alberta were already dealing with the fallout from more than 350 wildfires burning in B.C., which have put thousands on evacuation alert and forced hundreds from their homes.
“The reality is that British Columbia is already facing its own wildfire situation and with tourism season and our own evacuees, accommodations are limited, which is why Alberta is directing people to go loop back to Alberta where they can provide longer-term support,” Ma said.
“These are challenging times.”