(PHOTO: CEMA Chief Tom Samspon speaks to media in Calgary Thursday, May 6, 2016. Sarah Anderson. REPORTER. Copyright Rogers Media)
The comforting words from Tom Sampson, the Chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) Friday afternoon as Calgary prepared to accept 2,000 evacuees were, “Our home is your home.”
Sampson said the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), the University of Calgary, and Mount Royal University were prepared to house hundreds of evacuees in accommodations on their campuses.
“People aren’t being put on cots,” he said. They are being housed in student residences, with their own bed, a room that is a space of their own with bathrooms and food services available to all evacuees. As anyone who has fled their home these kinds of accommodations make for a sense of calm and a place you can temporarily call your own, which is an immense relief.
There are currently 500 people being housed in the reception centres in Calgary.
If you are among the several hundred expected to arrive in Calgary Friday you’re asked to report to the University of Calgary dining hall. From there, you’ll be assigned accommodations. If you drove, parking lot 49 is available. Pets are welcome and being cared for.
Sampson said people staying at the reception centres are being given transit passes and free passes to venues and attractions in Calgary, including the Calgary Zoo, so they can find some peace in time out of their temporary accommodations and to keep children entertained during this immensely difficult time.
For the time being, Calgarians are not being encouraged to open their homes to strangers. There are sufficiant accommodations for everyone coming from Fort McMurray, even if they do eventually need to open up the Stampede Grounds for group accommodations for up to 1,200 people.
However, anyone who has family, friends, or friends of friends from Fort McMurray and the surrounding area who have evacuated to Calgary is being encouraged to open their homes. And they are doing so.
If you are staying with friends or family there is no need to register with CEMA. You should register online with the Red Cross and open a claim with your insurance provider.
Volunteers from across Calgary are rolling in to help settle evacuees into their accommodations. The willingness to help is overwhelming and is coming from everywhere.
Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth said he has had offers from thousands of his firefighters wanting to battle the fire in Fort McMurray and do their part. It’s not logistically possible to send that many.
Right now there are 29 members of the Calgary Fire Department working in Fort McMurray, including a deputy chief and two mechanics. It’s essentially the complement they would send to fight a major house fire. The mechanics support the fleet on site.
The crews arrived 8 a.m. Thursday in Fort McMurray and worked into the early hours of the morning. They put out a forest fire. They moved on to protect the water treatment plant from fire. They then fought spot fires into the night. That’s what they’re working on again today. Relief for them is coming and will be larger than the initial group and will include a paramedic on standby for the Calgary firefighters and control personnel to help coordinate the joint effort.
“I think you would be impressed,” said Sampson of the coordination on the ground despite the fact firefighters are coming from departments across the country. The commonality of the uniforms, equipment, training, and chain of command is making the coordination easier.
The City of Calgary has also sent three water treatment plant operators and a process engineer to Fort McMurray to help offer relief and support for the operators there. The water treatment plants in Calgary and in Fort McMurray use similar technologies and so their support is vital to getting and maintaining clean, safe drinking water for the first responders in town.
More than 1,200 evacuees were taken by convoy south and industry and government airlifts have brought 8,000 people to either Calgary or Edmonton. The exact break down of how many evacuees are headed to each city isn’t known until they arrive. Right now there are 500 people staying in reception centres in Calgary but the number of evacuees in town staying with friends and family isn’t known.
The length of time we’ll all be displaced isn’t known either.
“I wish we had the answer,” said Sampson. The dynamic nature of the fire means they can’t predict how long it will be before it’s extinguished. After that, so much work has to be done on the ground to make the community safe for us to return.
Sampson said they are preparing for evacuees to be here for weeks which is why they’re arranging accommodations as comfortable as possible so the people who have nowhere else to go will have a place that is their own for the time being. CEMA, like all the evacuees, is playing this by ear, ready to support us for as long as it’s needed.
