And the city said it’s deployed members of its Canada Task Force 2 emergency crew to help firefighters in beleaguered Jasper.
News reports said the facility at the Shouldice Arena at 1515 Home Rd. N.W. that assists evacuees with snacks, emotional support and providing hotel rooms wasn’t receiving people for two hours Wednesday evening, leaving some weary travellers distraught.
City officials insisted the centre closed for just 20 minutes, basing that decision on the small number of people who’d arrived
“Last night when I heard some evacuees came to our city but did not receive our usual warm Calgary welcome I immediately reached out to (Calgary Emergency Management Agency) Chief Sue Henry to understand the situation…she quickly re-opened the reception centre,” said Gondek.
“To those evacuees who did not receive immediate assistance, I apologize sincerely – I can only imagine what it must have been like to rapidly evacuate, drive 12 to 15 hours and to show up here only to be met with closed doors.”
The reception centre, she said, would be open for another 48 hours, with its further need to be under review.
Henry said the reception centre had initially planned to close at 5 p.m Wednesday, but because evacuees were continuing to arrive, kept processing them until 10:15.
“We did have that gap where our staff needed to be released and there was a 20-minute gap and we were able to re-open the centre very shortly after,” she said.
“It’s very, very difficult to predict when people are going to arrive in something like this…we had no one come to the centre the nigh before so we decided to do the shifting of hours and soon realized people were going to come last night so we shifted again and were able to re-open very quickly.”
Henry said that last night, up to 85 people streamed into the centre and that, as of Thursday morning, 465 people had registered there and been provided hotel rooms.
She said it’s hard to predict if news of the devastation in Jasper will increase the flow of people into the Calgary facility. On Thursday morning, people were steadily arriving at the centre.
“I don’t know if we’re expecting a hundred more people, a thousand more people,” said Henry, adding that help will be provided for as long as the evacuation order in Jasper remains.
Last year, Calgary hosted hundreds of people fleeing the wildfire that menaced Yellowknife N.W.T.
Most of those people flew in and required more support, whereas those coming from Jasper are younger many are employed in the hospitality industry and have arrived in their own vehicles, said Henry.
“They need some accommodation and other supports but not on the level of (Yellowknife evacuees),” she said.
A few of those arriving from Jasper are tourists who require brief accommodation until they can change their travel plans.
Meanwhile, the city has sent 19 members of its Canada Task Force 2 to help crews manage the battle against raging fires that have destroyed at least parts of Jasper.
They received a request for their assistance from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday night.
“Their strength is really their diversity of experience in previous evacuations,” said Henry, noting they assisted during the Slave Lake and Fort McMurray fires.
“We have sent enough personnel to cover a day shift and a night shift.”
Along with Canada Task Force 2’s firefighters, police officers, fire chiefs, emergency managers and paramedics, the city’s also sent a mobile command centre to assist.
More personnel from the 165-member task force, which includes Calgary Fire Department staff – could be sent if required, said Henry.
X (Twitter) @BillKaufmannjrn