the broken typewriter

The generosity of the North Peace knows no bounds, as the residents of the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, Fort Nelson First Nation and Doig River First Nation have been forced to leave their communities and travel to Fort St. John, and beyond for safety.

From the moment the Emergency Support Services centre was set up at the North Peace Arena, local residents and businesses have stepped up to volunteer their time, donate food, water, accommodations and supplies to the 3,400-plus people who left their homes this weekend ahead of the fires threatening their homes.

While she says she doesn’t want to miss recognizing anyone for their generosity, Fort St. John Mayor Lilia Hansen said that the relationships and partnerships the city has built in the region over the years has allowed people throughout the region to easily reach out and offer assistance.

“Petronas right away stepped up, and they reached out to begin with which says a lot. Jim Borden contacted me and asked what they could do,” said Hansen, who noted Petronas came out right away with a pallet of water which they dropped off at the North Peace Arena, where the ESS has set up shop. Shell Canada followed suit with water and snacks for evacuees and volunteers.

Petronas’ generosity didn’t end there. Hansen noted that evacuees are having to travel further than Fort St. John to find accommodation, and in addition to supplying a pallet of water, Petronas brought down $2,000 in gift cards for fuel.

“The dollar doesn’t stretch as far as it used to, but every little bit in the meantime helps,” said Hansen. “Because people need it today, they need it now . . . until they get their paperwork processed.”

“Council has been fantastic in reaching out to those who have enquiries about how they can help,” Hansen said.

Among the offers of help, include the donation of 60 toiletry kits, mainly for people who are staying at Sunset Lodge, she said.

Businesses throughout the region have offered discounts, or free services to evacuees – The Lido, for example, had a showing of the Canucks vs Oilers game on Sunday with free admission to evacuees and all proceeds going to help them. On Wednesday, Tourmaline Oil is sponsoring movies at The Lido, with a matinee of Encanto at 2 p.m. and Super Mario Bros movie at 7 p.m.

Peaceful Pages and the Canadian Grind have been offering free coffee to evacuees, while the City of Fort St. John has free activities for kids at the Kids Arena Fieldhouse and the pool. Trican, Tonka Coating, Mercur Contracting and FSJ Co-op put on a BBQ for evacuees on Sunday, while School District 60 invited Fort Nelson students to see a ventriloquist at Bert Ambrose Elementary School this afternoon.

These are just some examples of the generosity of Peace Region residents and businesses, who are helping their northern neighbours.

MLA Dan Davies says he’s also been blown away by the generosity of the region, which he experienced firsthand while helping at the reception centre on Saturday.

“I was down there for 5-6 hours, just watching the outpouring of people bringing dog food down, dropping off snacks, there were people making soup and bringing it down, there were restaurants chipping in,” Davies said. “I’ve never seen anything like this – it was absolutely packed with people. I was doing the welcome and giving them their queue number and I think when I was done, we were at 700 households, that’s a huge amount of people.”

Davies and Hansen agree that the people of the Peace region don’t hesitate to step up and offer assistance, whether its for accommodation, housing animals, livestock, donating clothing, food or just providing a quiet place to have a cup of coffee and decompress for a bit.

“Whenever there’s a crisis, not just this one, but over the past years, I’ve always been amazed and it’s what makes me really proud to be here and live here, is how people come out and help their neighbours. It’s fantastic.”

It’s not just Fort St. John. Chetwynd and Dawson Creek have opened their arms to Fort Nelson area residents, even Prince George has fired up their ESS and are prepared to look after anyone who needs to travel that far.

Both Fort St. John and Dawson Creek hospitals have received patients evacuated from Fort Nelson General Hospital, Northern Health says that the evacuation went smoothly overall. BC Emergency Health Services provided excellent support in moving the patients, Fort Nelson Hospital staff also all safely left the community.

Fort St. John is currently full, with some 1,400 evacuees registered in the city. Many others are camping or staying with friends and family, while others have continued on to Sunset Prairie Lodge on the Braden Road, Dawson Creek and Chetwynd.

Hansen said that for anyone who is interested in helping, to please reach out. “Even if you haven’t had this (ESS) training, stop in and ask what they need, there might be something that you can do to help. It doesn’t hurt to ask. We never turn away volunteers.”

If you have been evacuated and are looking for assistance other than at the ESS centre in the North Peace Arena, some locals have created Facebook pages with a variety of resources – the Peace Region Evac Helpline was established during last year’s fires and is a wonderful resource, especially for livestock and camping. Wildfire Watch – NEBC is another useful resource, and the city of Fort St. John posts frequent updates on its page as well.

“People are just out on Facebook constantly, you know if you need to put your pets somewhere, you need your horses moved, you name it, it’s a real coming together of the North,” said Davies.

Also, if you have assistance to offer, these pages are a good place to look for anyone who needs your help or where you can let people know how you can help.

Hansen has been staying in touch with NRRM Mayor Rob Fraser and giving him “updates to say we’re looking after your citizens the best that we can. And if he hears of anything we can do to better assist, let me know.”

Fraser in turn, along with some other Fort Nelson residents who have remained in the community, has been posting regular updates on Facebook using the social media platform to keep citizens informed and up to date.

As I write this, crews continue to battle the fires, structural protection is in place in Fort Nelson and Doig River First Nation, so far, the fires have not reached any communities. But the personnel in place in Fort Nelson need food and have reached out to Dan Davies’ office for assistance.