More than 10,000 meal vouchers like this one have been distributed to evacuees from the Northwest Territories who've arrived in Red Deer since Aug. 17. (The City of Red Deer)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

the waiting game

Reception centre for N.W.T. evacuees in Red Deer reaches capacity

Aug 24, 2023 | 1:33 PM

The City of Red Deer’s reception centre for evacuees from the Yellowknife region has reached capacity.

The plan when it opened last Thursday was that The City could stand to register 1,000 people, and now that limit has been reached. An evacuation order was given in Yellowknife on Aug. 16, one day prior, with Mayor Ken Johnston telling rdnewsNOW yesterday that the province requested Red Deer open a centre.

This was based on, he says, Red Deer’s level of emergency preparedness.

READ MORE: Yellowknife city councillors praise Red Deer’s “unbelievable” response for evacuees

The City of Red Deer says it will continue to provide assistance to those already registered until Sept. 5, with services offered at the reception centre including providing meal and accommodation vouchers, pet supports through Central Alberta Humane Society, medical support, free recreation and transit passes, and other personal services.

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“The City remains committed to supporting evacuees from the Northwest Territories who have registered with us since August 17,” said Carol Lind, Emergency Management Coordinator.

“Even though we are at capacity, existing evacuees will continue to receive a high standard of care while the evacuation order remains in effect for The City of Yellowknife.”Existing evacuees in Red Deer who have not received updated meal and accommodation vouchers that are valid until September 5, are asked to return to the Reception Centre.

The Reception Centre remains open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Effective Saturday, August 26, hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

Evacuees looking for other reception centres, can look up current availability through the Province of Alberta: https://www.alberta.ca/northwest-territories-wildfire-evacuation#reception-centres.

The City of Red Deer thanks the community for its generosity and outpouring of support. Information on how to donate can be found at https://reddeer.ca/whats-happening/nwt-evacuees/information-for-red-deer-residents/.

In the meantime, evacuees await word of when they can return home.

Unfortunately, fire officials say a massive blaze — 174,103 hectares as of Aug. 24 at noon — still burns just 15 kilometres from the City that is nearly devoid of its 20,000 inhabitants.

The Canadian Press (CP) reported Thursday morning that roadblocks have been set up to stop Yellowknife residents from returning home, as the state of emergency remains in place.

According to CP, the government is also telling non-essential people still in Yellowknife they need to follow the evacuation order and leave, and it says anyone who continues to ignore it will be reported to police.

The latest updates on fires in N.W.T. is here.

(with files from The Canadian Press)