Grande Prairie lends helping hand to Jasper wildfire evacuees

As devastation surrounds Jasper, another Alberta community is doing what it can to help.

Grande Prairie has welcomed around 130 wildfire evacuees to its city.

Dan Lemiuex, director of emergency management for the city, said evacuees have been feeling a whirlwind of emotions, especially when they heard the news that the fire had spread into the community of Jasper.

“They were quite distraught,” he said. “There were a few pictures and videos floating around, so people are a little more anxious than they were when they first arrived. We’re trying to do our best to support their physical health, but also their mental health.”

For a lot of the evacuees, it was a long trek to get to Grande Prairie. Many had to drive through British Columbia.

“Some of them drove 10 to 12 hours just to get to us, so they’re very tired,” Lemiuex said. “They were very pleased that we were able to accommodate everyone that registered with us.”

Evacuees registered at the Bonnets Energy Centre, but they are all housed in local hotels.

“We are providing them with lodging, food services and a few other city amenities,” Lemiuex said. “I think our guests from Jasper are very well looked after in Grande Prairie.”

As of Thursday, the city hadn’t run into any capacity issues.

“We have a limited number of hotels, but our hotel partners have been very good about making as many rooms available as possible,” he explained. “But if we are nearing capacity we’ll be making arrangements to get people from Grande Prairie to Edmonton.”

Lemiuex said the community has come together and everyone is doing what they can to help.

“Grande Prairie is known for it’s hospitality and volunteers stepping forward when we need them, and that’s happening again in this event,” he said.

The city wants to make the evacuees feel welcome, Lemiuex added, even inviting them to recreation facilities in the area.

“Local clubs have volunteered to help us at the reception centre, the municipality has offered additional services like transit and access to recreation facilities,” he said. “We have a dinosaur museum just west of the city and they’ve opened their doors to the evacuees. We’ve got good support from the entire community to make sure that our guests are well looked after.”

The Grande Prairie Fire Department also deployed three emergency response vehicles and seven firefighters to assist in Jasper.

–with files from 980 CJME’s Abby Zieverink