Deputy Mayor Singh: 'I couldn't be more proud' of community response

Deputy Mayor Arjun Singh says it is humbling to see the community’s incredible response to evacuations in neighbouring communities and the outpouring of support for those who have been displaced.

Almost immediately after wildfires forced evacuation alerts and orders throughout the Thompson Nicola Regional District last Friday, Kamloopsians were in search of where to donate supplies and volunteer their time.

“Right on Friday, when the first evacuations happened, I was getting almost immediate emails and calls, ‘What can we do?’ ‘How can we help?’ from individuals to big corporations and organizations,” Singh said.

“It just transcends political lines or divisions. It’s all demographics. It’s a pretty wide community effort to support. . . It's been very very amazing to see and it makes you so proud to represent the people of Kamloops and be part of the Kamloops community."

From the get go, and even now, the offers of services and goods have been difficult to coordinate because of the sheer volume, Singh said. Officials wanted to ensure evacuees knew where to go and that emergency services working to set up lodging and food weren’t overwhelmed by concerned citizens wanting to help.

TNRD launched two Facebook pages to help connect evacuees with services and volunteers with each other. The Chamber organized a list of services available to evacuees from businesses and individuals around the city and grassroots initiatives continue to pop up everywhere.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” Singh said. “I couldn't be more inspired by the response the community has given to the evacuees and they are obviously very anxious and our heart goes out to them for sure. We want to make sure everyone is feeling as good as they can being here.”

The City of Kamloops is acting largely in a supportive role, taking the lead from the Thompson Nicola Regional District, hoping to make sure everything is as coordinated as possible for the 2,200 evacuees. City employees have been assisting at the TNRD emergency operations centre and TRU has accommodated a huge influx of traffic by hosting the emergency reception centre.

“I don't think they would do anything differently for us if it the shoe was on the other foot and, if God forbid we ever had to evacuate Kamloops, I know the communities around us would do the same so it's kind of a really, really strong regional community spirit,” Singh said.