“I think I kind of just went into work mode right away.”
That comes from Kimberly Winand, a Jasper Outreach Worker who stayed back to help with evacuation efforts in Japser now a little over a week ago.
“I had actually gotten the message before people knew we were evacuating, just asking if we’d be willing to stay back and help with the evacuation centres,” Winand said.
Winand said some of her responsibilities included getting people onto buses and getting them out of town.
“There was three evacuee centres, two hotels and then our main one was the activity centre,” she explained.
“At that hotel at first, it was the hotel guests, a lot of the staff, and then locals that lived around the area that didn’t have cars would come by, because it was the three evacuation spots, and getting them onto buses and just trying to help give people as much information as we had, which wasn’t a ton at the time, and getting them food and water, and just comfort if they needed, and getting them a ride out of town.”
When it came time to leave, Winand said it was a “huge, crazy, traffic jam.”
“For people to get from one end of town to the other, just to get onto the highway took probably at least two hours if you were leaving at that time when they said to evacuate,” she explained.
“It’s a town of 5,000 and there’s 25,000 people trying to leave, it was very busy and it was just gridlock, and even for myself that’s how we decided which point I was going to.”
Winand said she drove to the closest hotel used as an evacuee centre because it was incredibly hard to drive around.
“I was having to just get out of my car and tell people to stop and let me through so I could get over to the hotel,” she said.
“My other coworker that had to go to the further response centre, he was on bike, so that was good, he could get through it.”
She added a lot of people she knows waited until 3:00 to 4:00 that morning, to avoid the worst of the traffic.
Winand said she ended up staying in Jasper around 24 hours after all the evacuees were gone.
“We just had one more evacuation centre set up for the back country evacuees that were being flown in from the backcountry, being rescued from out there, so we were waiting for them and the last few Jasperites,” she said.
“We left town around midnight, my partner works at the hospital so as soon as the hospital was closed, and we had the last bus of people gone, then we left.”
Winand said they camped out on a friend’s acreage in Valemount for a couple of days, before continuing on.
“I’m slowly making my way to Edmonton, so I drove to Prince George and stayed with a couple of friends there that actually used to live in Jasper.”
Prince George provided a rest stop for those who had to make the long trek back to Alberta.
While the Northern BC Capital was the closest stop for those who were forced to flee west, Winand said she thinks there was a desire to go back to Alberta for them.
“I think for a lot of people, it was trying to get to places that were familiar, or also because in Alberta we’re getting so much more support right, so free hotels, things through the Red Cross, Alberta supports, checking into evacuation centres, I think a lot of people are wanting to get back to Alberta for those types of things, if they didn’t have connections or friends in Prince George or anything like that,” she explained.
“I know a lot of people when they went west, they couldn’t find anything in Valemount, we were blessed to have quite a few friends that lived there, so that’s why we stayed there for a few days, but a lot of people had to just keep going and just keep checking in every town along the way if there was any hotels or anyone offering accommodations.”
She concluded by saying she has lots of gratitude for those fighting the fire, and for how much of the town was saved.
“We have the basis for our community to rebuild, we have all of our infrastructure still there, so that’s a huge starting point,” she said.
“I’m extremely grateful for everyone that got everyone out safe, there were no injuries, no deaths, so everyone did get out, and everyone just taking care of the town now.”
She added everyone has been amazing to those who have had to evacuate.
“In any town we’ve been to, there’s just so much support,”
“Whether it’s food, whether it’s just a gathering space, whether it’s accommodation, it’s amazing to see the support.”
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