The Gibraltar Room in Williams Lake remains ready to greet any possible evacuees despite not yet seeing any.
Director of Emergency Social Services Dave Dickson says due to Wednesday’s evacuation order for an area south of Highway 24 they were anticipating that there were several hundred people that had to be evacuated and that Kamloops was unable to host them.
He says in consultation with 100 Mile House they had decided to set up group lodging because all of the hotels are full.
“Accordingly we got a group of volunteers together who quickly set up the Gibraltar Room into a group lodging site and then we waited. The people from the area chose to go elsewhere or they chose not to leave, or we don’t know where they went but long story short nobody showed up.”
Dickson says despite this they will continue to have the beds ready through the weekend depending on what the Elephant Hill Fire does and estimates that the Gibraltar Room has the capacity for 80-100 people.
Volunteers are always in need and can sign up in person at the Resiliency Centre at Boitanio, or contact Dickson.
“We’re in the mid 200-250 volunteers that you can call 24/7 and say hey can you help me, they’re there. Just unbelievable and these are volunteers, it’s amazing. Some of them were ordered out-well all of us had been, but of some of them went to other communities and helped. They come back and they’re right in helping. That’s what makes people like our community so amazing,” says Dickson.
Emergency Support Services have registered over 13,000 people through Williams Lake since July 6.