As thousands have been forced to flee the Jasper wildfire, the City of Calgary Shouldice Arena reception centre is helping those same evacuees to find help.

Many of those evacuees that have made their way to Calgary don’t yet know what comes next.

Jesus Romyrdurgo, who arrived in Calgary on the afternoon of July 25, said what happened to his town in the mountains was unbelievable.

“I can’t explain what’s happened in Jasper because even the town is surrounded by the fire. I don’t know what happened to us because I love Jasper, when I came to Canada, I lived in Jasper directly,” Romyrdurgo told LWC.

Romyrdurgo’s evacuation route led through Kamloops, Banff and then eventually Calgary—a route through B.C. that was because of road closures along Highway 93.

His life has been turned upside down from his work in the tourism industry as a laundry supervisor.

“You can’t imagine how can I put my things? Whatever I take it, pick it up, pick it up… and then run.”

He told LWC that he has been told that his home has been spared from the fires, but many other evacuees did not know whether their homes did.

Total damage done by wildfires to town not yet known, but estimates are grim

During her afternoon briefing, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith relayed details about the fires that had reached the Jasper townsite. About half the town she said, largely on the west side, had been affected by the fires.

In an evening statement from Parks Canada made at 4:30 p.m., they said that structural firefighters in the town were continuing to work to protect what was left.

“Structural fire protection units are still fighting fires within the town and continue to deal with fire moving from one building to another. We appreciate your patience as we work to make conditions in the town safe enough for a detailed assessment to be completed,” Parks Canada said.

“Incident Command is able to confirm that all critical infrastructure in Jasper was successfully protected including the hospital, emergency services building, both elementary and junior/senior schools, activity centre and wastewater treatment plant.”

Norlando Flores, who has been living in Jasper for more than a year, was one of the evacuees who had not received news about the state of his home.

According to Flores, he could only base it on videos he’s watched from the town that were shared with him. 

“Don’t totally know what it is for now, because only the video, but we’re not sure,” said Flores.

He said that the Shouldice staff have been giving him and other evacuees what they need

“Yeah, there is no problem for that, food, the water.”

It was too early, he said, to know when he and his family would be able to get back to Jasper. In the meantime, they would be staying in a hotel at least for the next six days.

Another evacuee, also named Flores, who asked LWC to only use his last name, said that they also didn’t know when normal would return.

He and his family originally stayed in their car for the first three nights of the crisis, thinking that the evacuation wouldn’t last long.

“We thought we can go back right away, but that’s too hard. We don’t have clothes, enough clothes to use until we go back,” said Flores.

“It’s getting worse. So, we just brought for two days or three days clothes for my family, and that’s it.” 

According to Flores, they were given five hours to pack up everything that they needed.

“The problem is we were away from the town in Hinton… we just drove back to Jasper, and then we thought it’s OK, because everything is normal. We were still packing what we need.”

“We did expect that it’s been like like this. It’s getting worse.”

He said that he too was given a hotel room and everything he needed in the short term for help.

Evacuees leave impression on officials

Mayor Jyoti Gondek, along with Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Sue Henry, visited the reception centre in the afternoon.

After the visit, she said that her thoughts remained with the residents and visitors who had to flee the fire.

“This afternoon I visited the reception centre and heard stories about the harrowing ordeal of having to quickly get out of Jasper and then navigating the busy mountain highways to get to Calgary. I heard from people who were grateful to be getting assistance here, and of people who were trying to find out what happened to everything they had to leave behind,” Mayor Gondek said.

“Most of all, I was struck by how much compassion those brave Jasperites have for each other, and how those community ties came with them to Calgary.”

Among those Calgarians who wanted to personally lend a hand was Wayne Marshall, who visited the reception centre himself to see what he could do.

“I’ve been there [to Jasper], and I can relate to when you see the whole town burning up. I mean, my goodness, its just very emotional. So, I’m just trying to say, ‘what can I do?'” Marshall said.

“I’ve got a house here, I got bedrooms, I got space, why not offer?”

A big reason for Marshall wanting to help relates to the Fort McMurray fires and not helping out then. 

“I sort of remember Fort McMurray and what happened there, and I didn’t really do anything, and I felt, ‘why didn’t I,'” he said.

“I felt elated by it, especially when they’ve got people coming here and they’ve been on the road for so long. You know, they’re talking about sleeping in cars and all this kind of stuff.”

He said that he was looking to offer up his empty bedrooms at least to help.

The City of Calgary has asked Calgarians to not make donations to the reception centre, as staff are not equipped to accept donations nor have any way to connect those donations with appropriate evacuees.

The reception centre is set to operate at all hours until 8 a.m. on Saturday morning.