In July as over a hundred forest fires burned in northern Saskatchewan, more than 13,000 residents were forced to leave their homes in the largest evacuation in the province’s history.
Rick Galloway, an elder at St. Paul’s, Prince Albert, Sask., works for the provincial government as deputy commissioner of Emergency Management and Fire Safety and director of the Special Response Development Unit. His team was in charge of emergency management during the crisis, and responsible for transporting people to and from the evacuation centres.
“This was totally unprecedented and impacted every level of government and stretched our capacities right to the maximum,” he said. “It’s hard to describe how large scale this was so quickly. It went from one day we didn’t know it was an issue until the next day when we were told we had a mass scale emergency.”
Armed Forces personnel and additional firefighters and equipment were called in to help combat and contain the fires. Meanwhile, communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba opened their doors to evacuees.
In Prince Albert, the gymnasiums of a high school and technical institute were turned into emergency shelters, and hotel rooms were booked up for high risk and senior evacuees as well as those with young children.
Red Cross volunteers, including at least a few Presbyterians, helped out in a multitude of ways, including office work, assisting in the shelters and running materials back and forth between different sites.
“When there’s an evacuation there are so many pieces that take hundreds and hundreds of people just to help out with all aspects of the evacuation,” said Sharon Shynkaruk, another elder at St. Paul’s and a manager of corporate services with the province’s Ministry of Social Services. Her ministry organized accommodations and support for the evacuees.
Some aboriginal communities also made space for people to stay. Norma Johnstone is an elder and treasurer at Mistawasis Presbyterian on the Mistawasis First Nation, but works with the Agency Chiefs Tribal Council, which brings together representatives from three First Nations: Big River, Pelican Lake and Witchekan Lake. Along with colleagues she helped to organize space in a hunting lodge on the Pelican Lake First Nation, about a two-hour drive northwest of Prince Albert.
About 55 people stayed there, either in the lodge or in campers or tents along the shores of the lake.
Members of the community pitched in about $1,600 to help buy food and other supplies, and provided clothing, blankets, cooking utensils, and whatever else was needed.
“We were trying to make it like a home away from home atmosphere for them,” Johnstone said. “We have an abundance of wild meat and deer and moose, and we can hunt at any time if it’s to eat and to sustain ourselves. And this is what people were doing. They were hunting and bringing wild meat to our evacuees and they took them fishing and stuff, just what they’d do at home. … It’s always good to have home-cooked meals.”
Galloway said he saw an outpouring of support during the crisis. “For example with the volunteers who stepped forward to fight fires, our lines literally were jammed with people who wanted to help, people who wanted to come not only from Saskatchewan, not only from the prairie provinces, not only from all of Canada not only all of the U.S., we had people who wanted to come all the way from Australia who were phoning us saying how can we come and help. So the overall desire of people to do the right thing is a really positive thing. For someone like me who’s been involved in public safety for a lot of years it was really powerful.”
But that kind of overwhelming response can pose difficulties, too.
“One of the challenges with managing volunteer resources is making sure people’s good efforts are not wasted,” Galloway said. “You can have a massive outpouring of volunteers and then not be able to handle it. And it’s the same with material.”
There were some cases, he said, where well-meaning people and groups donated things like food and used clothing that didn’t really meet a need. Food was already available in the evacuation centres and although some types of clothing were useful—like bathing suits so children could go swimming in the city’s pools—much of it was unnecessary.
If you want to help out in an emergency situation, start by contacting the group in charge of the response efforts, suggested Shynkaruk. Find out three main things: What is needed? When is it needed? And where is it needed? And, of course, monetary donations can always be put to good use either during the emergency or afterward.
Photo: Wildfires devastated forests like this one near Weyakwin, Sask., shown on July 15, 2015. (CP Images.)
