Majority of Fort Nelson, Doig River evacuees accommodated in Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The City of Fort St John says that most evacuees from Fort Nelson and Doig River First Nation have been accommodated with hotel rooms since arriving in town.

More than 1,400 evacuees are currently registered with the city, fleeing multiple wildfires impacting their homes.

“We worked with the hotels [Monday] to extend as many evacuees as we could,” says Ryan Harvey with the city. “A large majority of those evacuees have been accommodated.”

Some evacuees have reported having issues with their rooms, including being told they’d need to leave Tuesday morning.

Mackenzie Spenrath, a Fort Nelson evacuee who was one of the first to arrive in Fort St. John, says he was initially told he’d have the room for four nights—from Friday, May 11th, to Tuesday, May 14th.

“ [On May 13th] I went to the ESS centre to ask what I was supposed to do, and they told us to just go and ask our hotel front desk if our room is still available.”

Spenrath says he did so and was told his room was available, but in the morning, he and his two cats were told they would need to leave by noon.

“Eventually, the guy at the front desk went and, I guess, talked to his manager, and he said, ‘Okay, we can extend you until the 17th,’” Spenrath said.

“They said that they had bookings from a month ago, and I believe they’re workers, I think they’re oil and gas workers.” 

When he went to the ESS Centre to renew his other assistance services like food, Spenrath says he was told the city had sent vouchers to hotels extending evacuees’ stays to the 21st.

“So, the hotel has that voucher for me, but they’re still telling me, as I heard last, that I’m supposed to be out on the 17th,” Spenrath said. 

“I’ve seen other people in our hotel on Facebook and heard people talking in the lobby of the hotel who said they had to leave today.”

According to Harvey, a few individuals weren’t able to have their accommodations extended and needed to move hotels. However, he says the city’s goal is for all of them to remain within Fort St. John.

“We’re working with hotels just to find availability and make sure we have space for the people that are here already.”

Many of the evacuees also fled to Dawson Creek, south of Fort St. John. 

Energeticcity contacted Dawson Creek communications manager Melissa Love to request information on whether their hotels were fully booked. Love didn’t respond in time for publication.