Some evacuees from the Northwest Territories are settling in for a longer-than-hoped for stay in St. Albert as wildfires threaten cities and towns for a second straight week. Meanwhile, local non-profits and businesses are gearing up to provide long-term support.
Yellowknife resident Amanda Karl and her family of five, as well as two furry companions, are just a few of the more than 700 evacuees and over 100 pets calling St. Albert their temporary home.
Karl and her family evacuated by choice a week before Yellowknife's evacuation order was issued by the municipal government, Karl said.
“We had to get our kids down for university and the fire was coming, so as soon as the highway opened up, and we had a chance to go, we went,” she said. She added the family initially went as far south as Calgary before coming to stay with family in St. Albert.
“We weren't sure when we were going to be able to leave and our primary (concern) was getting our kids down here (for university), so we left early and just took our safe of documents and what we needed, and left and came down south to be with family.”
Back in Yellowknife, Karl is the owner-operator of the home-based business The Scrappy Baker, making and selling baked goods, vinyl-pressed T-shirts and other goodies.
Needing to keep herself busy,Karl has decided to raise money for the NWT United Way and the NWT Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) by selling hand-pressed “NWT Strong” T-shirts, landyards, and window decals.
“I don't like to sit and do nothing,” Karl said. “If I can use my skills to do something to help, I would rather do that.”
“Yellowknife is such a tight community and the NWT is so tight, and we help each other. And this is how I can help, because I can't do anything else.”
Needing to leave her tools and equipment behind, Karl said she invested in a new Cricut machine and heat press, and has set up a makeshift workspace in the bedroom she and her husband share.
“It's been nice just keeping busy,” she said, adding she started production on Monday. Those interested in buying an item should contact Karl through The Scrappy Baker's Facebook page.
City working to ensure hotel rooms, food supports continue
City spokesperson Cory Sinclair said in an email 786 individual NWT evacuees registered in St. Albert early last week, before the city reached capacity.
“The city is working with our provincial and territorial partners to extend hotel room bookings for the evacuees we are currently supporting,” Sinclair said.“Once we have confirmation on the details, we will communicate with the hotels we have set up for evacuees hosted by St. Albert.”
“There is no need for evacuees hosted by St. Albert to take any action, or to leave their existing hotel room.”
Sinclair also said the city is working to ensure food support continues, especially for evacuees in hotels without an in-house restaurant.
“Working with our governmental and non-governmental partners, we have arranged to provide food service for the evacuees being supported by the City of St. Albert,” he said. “Over the past few days, the Salvation Army food trucks have been dropping food off (and preparing it at the various hotel locations) for evacuees who were staying at hotels that did not have an in-house restaurant.”
“For those evacuees staying in hotels that do have a restaurant, they can continue to eat their meals there and the cost is covered according to the per diem set by the Government of Alberta.”
Sinclair also said that the City of Edmonton's evacuee registration centre at the Edmonton Expo Centre is now open to all evacuees who are registered in St. Albert, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are being provided at the Expo Centre.
“The City of St. Albert is honoured to have been called upon to provide support to the Northwest Territories wildfire evacuees,” Sinclair said.
“We know they are going through a very difficult time and we are committed to doing our very best to meet their needs while they are in our community.”
Food Bank, Further Education, and Specsavers step-up
The local food bank, St. Albert Further Education, and the Specsavers optometry office in the mall all said they are prepared to support NWT evacuees long-term.
Suzan Krecsy, the executive director of the St. Albert Food Bank and Community Village, says a few evacuees already used the food bank's services this past week.
“All they have asked for is snack bags as they are being provided with two meals a day in the hotels,” she said. “We have received tremendous support from Food Banks Alberta (our provincial office) and they have sent us the items necessary for the snack bags.”
Krecsy said Food Banks Alberta has provided pet food to distribute as well.
“We can continue to receive assistance from Food Banks Alberta, so I’m not seeing us having to stop support to the NWT folks.”
St. Albert Further Education's executive director Cheryl Dumont said her organization is extending all of their usual services for newcomers to NWT evacuees, such as setting people up with free bus and recreation passes, providing free coffee and snacks, and having computers available for use.
As well, Dumont said Further Education's storefront location in St. Albert Centre is also serving as a place for evacuees to bring children to play board games, do puzzles, colour, and for older kids, to play games online.
“We want to be a very welcoming, inclusive place for anyone from the Northwest Territories,” Dumont said. “We're here for the long run.”
Dumont said the organization has already helped a few evacuees create and print resumes as some folks are looking for work while being away from home and their jobs.
“This is the kind of work we do with newcomers; we're just simply extending it to these individuals that have a big need.”
For evacuees who either lost or forgot their glasses, prescription or readers, the Specsavers optometry office in St. Albert Centre is offering free pairs for all evacuees in need.
“We're offering ... whatever they need,” said Maggie Sherlow, the owner of Specsavers St. Albert. “People have different pairs of glasses for different reasons, they could easily just forget those in the rush ... and I grew up here and I know we're very community-based so I try to help in everything that I can.”
Sherlow said as of Aug. 23 a couple of evacuees have come in for glasses; however, the shop's offer will continue as long as needed while evacuees are in St. Albert.
“We're in it for the long haul for sure because we don't know, it could be a month, it could be six weeks, it doesn't matter.”
As of Aug. 23, the territorial government and municipal officials have given no certain timeline for when evacuees should expect to return home, with the mayor of Hay River, Kandis Jameson, telling the CBC it could be weeks.
The Yellowknife-based independent news and radio organization Cabin Radio reported earlier this week the fire threatening Hay River was eight kilometres away from the town's border, while the fire threatening Yellowknife was 15 kilometres away from the capital's border.
