New evacuees arriving in Grande Prairie from the Northwest Territories are being redirected to the St. Albert Registration Centre at Servus Credit Union Place. As of Monday night, the Grande Prairie Regional Emergency Partnership reported they were facing a shortage of available hotel rooms for wildfire evacuees.
Director of Public and Protective Services for the City of Grande Prairie Dan Lemieux told Grande Prairie City Council as of Tuesday morning, around 750 evacuees were being hosted in several different hotels across the city.
“Due to the upcoming sold-out Bearcreek Folk Festival, some of our rooms will have to be vacated [and] we are making plans over the next couple of days to move some of our evacuees from the City of Grande Prairie to the City of St. Albert,” Lemieux adds.
According to GPREP, while the reception center in Grande Prairie remains open, transportation will be available for evacuees seeking transit to St. Albert on Wednesday.
According to Lemieux, two planes full of people forced from their homes because of the wildfires in the NWT arrived in Grande Prairie from Hay River late Sunday night. They were taken to the Grande Prairie reception center with more evacuees coming in from the highway.
