“It took us 2½ hours to get to Hwy. 16 (on the edge of Jasper) — that was probably the scariest part”
Christine Matthews and her family spent a sleepless, harrowing night fleeing Jasper, struggling to decide whether they’d return to Calgary, where they began their ill-fated Rocky Mountain journey.
Minutes before she spoke, provincial officials announced those Jasper evacuees would be offered refuge at a reception centre at the Shouldice Athletic Centre, 1515 Home Rd. N.W.
“We were panicking because we had no idea (what was going on) … we just wanted to get further away from the fire,” said Matthews, of Alexandria, Va.
“It took us 2½ hours to get to Hwy. 16 (on the edge of Jasper) — that was probably the scariest part.”
After sleeping in their rented car behind a service station in Valemount, B.C., the family made it to Kamloops, where they found a hotel room and were wondering whether to head to Vancouver or Calgary, worried about running into a possible gauntlet of wildfires either way.
Getting to Calgary from the only way out of Jasper is a circuitous route, going through Kamloops then east on the Trans-Canada Highway — an 11-hour journey.
In Calgary, provincial and municipal officials quickly designated the Shouldice Athletic Park as a reception centre, along with another one in Grande Prairie.
Communities in B.C. lack the capacity to host thousands of evacuees and face their own wildfire challenges, said Stephen Lacroix, senior assistant deputy minister with the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.
“The issue is the severity of wildfire activity and evacuations in B.C. proper,” he said.
“They had no capacity to house Albertans especially given the number of (evacuees) in Alberta, so that’s why the decision was made to route people back into Alberta through the safest route available.”
Provincial officials said they don’t know how many people will show up to register at the Calgary reception centre but said the quick offer to help is typical in a time of crisis.
“Where people are facing adversity, they all step up to the plate,” said Mike Ellis, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services.
Said Lacroix: “We’ve been tested over time, many times, unfortunately.”
American visitor Matthews said she’s impressed with the emergency response and the cool reserve evacuees showed at a traumatic time.
“People were calm, polite and there was a dignity … it’s hard to be calm, it was terrifying,” she said.