The city says that as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, 108 evacuees had registered at the Shouldice reception centre
For Tim Strozek and his family, fleeing the Jasper wildfire led to running into a gauntlet of forest blazes in B.C.
After a 14-hour drive through two burning provinces, Strozek, his wife Rachael, their two daughters and dog Adora arrived in Calgary late Tuesday night, finally catching some sleep in their trailer in the parking lot of the Shouldice Arena, which has welcomed dozens of evacuees from Jasper National Park.
There, they enjoyed pizza, snacks and drinks before pulling out to travel back to their home in Saskatoon.
But before that, the family recalls their camping sojourn disrupted by the sight of Jasper residents fleeing their town.
“I saw long lineups at a gas station and I took that as a sign the locals were getting ready to leave,” said Strozek.
“It really happened quick – one minute, we’re sitting at our campsite and the next one, we’re rushing out heading west.”
Even though Strozek figured they’d gotten ahead of most of those fleeing the town, it still took them 1-1/2 hours to reach Hwy. 16 but even after that, their trek to Kamloops had its harrowing moments.
“We passed so many fires north of Kamloops, they looked very close – a helicopter dumped water right by the highway,” said Rachael Strozek.
“We were running from fires.”
Her husband said they made up their minds not to stop anywhere along the way once they’d left Blue River, B.C. – if they could help it.
“We wanted to get out of there as fast as possible in case the road was closed and we got re-routed further west,” he said.
As he spoke, other evacuees who’d arrived by bus were being picked up by taxis or city buses to be taken to hotels.
One of them, Jasper resident Ted Turnbull, said he waited anxious hours in Jasper before finally boarding a bus, before arriving in Calgary early Wednesday morning with his dog Labrador-shepherd cross Oreo.
He said he was on a convoy of four buses head from Valemount. B.C. to Calgary and registered at Shouldice Arena as the 88th arrival.
“It’s hard for me because I’m a disabled stroke survivor – it’s not easy for me to pack,” said Turnbull, 40, whose lost much of the use of his left arm.
“Unfortunately, I had to abandon two cats – I couldn’t find them or catch them on my own and the fire was getting to close.”
But he couldn’t leave behind Oreo, which he said saved his life during one of his strokes. He spent much of Tuesday in the heat of a Valemount parking lot with his dog.
“I’m just happy to be off school buses,” said Turnbull.
The man said he’s been told he’ll likely be staying at the Calgary hotel for six days.
The city says that as of 9 a.m. Wednesday, 108 evacuees had registered at the Shouldice reception centre, with 73 of those being provided hotel rooms.
Of those, 53 were Jasper residents and 55 were tourists.
Rosario Dasilva said she was sleeping in her Jasper home Monday evening following her shift on the Rocky Mountaineer sightseeing train when she received the word to evacuate.
She got a ride with her building manager, joining the bumper-to-bumper queue to get of town.
“It was a crazy, an experience – I’ve never been evacuated before,” said Dasilva, 58, who clutched a bag full of belongings.
She voiced the fears of many evacuees that they might not return home to the charred remains of their property.
“I left my car in Jasper, I’m hoping it’ll still be there whole when I get home,” said Dasilva, adding she’s staying in a Calgary home with her husband and daughter.
“I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Voicing the same concerns was Jasper resident Warren Waxer, who was vacationing in Osoyoos, B.C. when word of his hometown’s evacuation reached him.
“The winds (in Jasper) are so high and it’s so dry, losing everything is a possibility but I’m staying hopeful,” said Waxer, 69.
“There’s only so much of the vagabond life I can handle.”
He made the trek form the Okanagan to Calgary Tuesday, while his son evacuated from Jasper and joined evacuees crowding Hwy. 16 to escape the wildfires that closed off roads in two other directions.
“He had to take all the stuff out of our house, including the 72-hour (emergency) kit,” said Waxer.
“Knowing Jasper was under threat was like the apocalypse.”
The man said he’ll be staying with friends in Edmonton, which is on the way home but doesn’t expect to get back there in the next couple of days.
“Even if the fire stops dead tomorrow, they’ll have to make sure it’s safe to return – it could be a week but we have to be optimistic,” said Waxer.
“We want to come back to Jasper and so does the world.”
X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn