Roughly 1800 residents from Fort Nelson who escaped the Parker Lake wildfire have evacuated to Dawson Creek or Fort St. John.
Dawson Creek Mayor, Darcy Dober has a lot of compassion for the evacuees who had their lives turned upside down in a matter of moments.
“Your whole world has flipped upside down right, whether it’s youth that were in school and it’s tough. I can only assume but I think like living in that where anytime your future is unknown is really uneasy.”
“Their lives really get changed up overnight. They are at home one day and now they are gone – you really have that uncertainty of what the future brings.”
Dober added while the wildfire has been anything but easy to deal with, Dawson Creek has banded together to make life a little easier.
“The City of Dawson Creek is offering free swim passes and access to use some of our other facilities for those members that are here as well. Another amazing thing about people doing what is right in times of need but there are a couple of folks from Fort Nelson that are here that have worked with evacuee centres offering their services to help.”
“You don’t wish this on anybody but when communities come together, it’s heart warming to see that.”
Fort St. John Information Officer, Ryan Harvey stated over 14-hundred evacuees have rolled in since Friday, leaving little room for many others.
“If anybody is still looking to evacuate, they should go further than Fort St. John by heading to Dawson Creek, Chetwynd or Prince George for support – our capacity to provide accommodations is reaching the end.”
Another 90 evacuees have found shelter in Prince George as a result – this equates to about 38 households.
The Parker Lake Wildfire is about 8,344 hectares in size.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
