Lloydminster is once again hosting a group of evacuees as wildfires affect parts of northwest Saskatchewan.
While the first group from the Clearwater River Dene community have returned home, some 800 people are now staying at local hotels, says the city. The evacuees have been bussed in from Beauval, ÃŽle-Ã -la-Crosse, Buffalo Narrows among other communities.
Head of emergency management Andrew DeGruchy says Lloydminster is near capacity.
“Lloydminster is sort of at capacity now especially in regard to hotel facilities which is certainly what we prefer. So, communities of Cold Lake, Prince Albert, Saskatoon and Regina are all starting to take evacuees at this time as well.”
Meadow Lake Tribal Council has established security at the local hotels where fire evacuees are being housed, adds DeGruchy. Also, in conjunction with the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA), the people are being bussed to a central facility three-times a day for buffet meals. The city will also be organizing recreational activities for the evacuees while they are in Lloydminster.
DeGruchy anticipates they will be hosting this group in Lloydminster for about 10-14 days as the wildfires in their home communities are still listed as out of control.
Local groups have been wanting to lend support and care as Lloydminster hosts the evacuees. DeGruchy says “they are cautious as they don’t want hundreds of people coming to local hotels.”
“We are reaching out specifically to community groups at this time. So just for those community groups to keep an eye for those requests. And if there is a request for the public to volunteer, we will certainly do that through our traditional media systems.”
He adds that Meadow Lake Tribal Council and the SPSA have not made requests for volunteer input at this time.
As to whether Lloydminster can sustain the demands of 800 evacuees, even though it’s in a supportive capacity, DeGruchy says at this time the city’s resources are sufficient.
“Lloydminster is a bit of an event facility, so we are used to seeing these big influxes of people on the weekend for sporting events or tournaments. We do have some capacity to deal with it. It’s just going forward if we can sustain that for a 12-14 day period,” says DeGruchy noting that they are planning for that so as not to see staff burn-out.