Wildfire evacuees find shelter in Pincher Creek

PINCHER CREEK Residents and businesses came together to assist those fleeing the wildfire near Waterton Lakes National Park.

It took less than a day for officials and volunteers to set up a reception centre and temporary shelter in a church, a daunting task made all the more easier by an outpouring of help from among the town’s 3,600 residents.

“It’s been amazing watching the municipal district and the town all come together,” said Chris Ney, senior pastor of the Vertical Church, site of the evacuation centre.

“Store owners have been stepping up, saying, ‘How can we help? what can we do?’ ”

He says his phone has been constantly ringing with offers, including residents opening up their homes to evacuees.

It’s been a great help to those with nowhere else to go, says David Green of the Pincher Creek and District Family and Community Support Services.

“We have 100 cots and 100 blankets — we are expecting about 60 evacuees, and that’s a conservative number,” he said.

While some of those who’ve shown up at the centre have opted for a hotel or to stay with residents, he said a lot of those bunking down in cots are young seasonal workers from Waterton’s businesses who were forced to flee when the park was evacuated Friday.

Declining to give his name, a restaurant worker who’d just stepped off of an evacuation bus said he’s grateful for the warm reception given to him and his co-workers.

“You make the best out of the situation,” he said, unloading his bags by a cot in the church’s spacious sanctuary.

“I’m here with the people I’ve worked with for the past several months, and we’re all in good spirits.”

After a week of little more than suffocating smoke and bleak news of the fire, he said coming to town has been an incredible boost to everybody’s spirits.

“It’s almost like a good omen that we’ve been able to leave.”