Highway patrols are being increased, and emergency operations centers activated, as BC receives an influx of fire evacuees from Jasper.

BC Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says at present, the goal is to move the roughly 4,700 permanent residents, as well as hundreds of tourists, forced into B.C. from Jasper back into Alberta, either north to Grande Prairie, or South – via Kamloops – to Calgary.

“From Prince George to McBride and Valemount, to Clearwater, Barriere and Kamloops, they’ve been working through the night to open gas stations and amenities, direct folks to rest stops, open welcome centers,” said Ma.

She says emergency supports will be available along the routes as well.

“We also have the Ministry of Highways patrolling those highways with Jerry Cans and additional fuel in order to help stranded motorists who may run out of gas along the way,” said Ma.

Ma says at this point its not clear how long the exodus will take, but she is recommending travelers in the region avoid the transportation corridors if possible.

It comes as Valemount was inundated with fire evacuees last night.

The town’s administrator says every parking lot, boulevard, side of the road, and field was full of vehicles and that some evacuees spent the night on the floor of the local arena while others bunked down at the Legion.

Clearwater Mayor Merlin Blackwell has told Radio NL that while they did help with coordinating the response last night, his Emergency Operations Center has since been stood down.

The City of Kamloops says it will do what it can to help people fleeing from the Jasper area who are passing through the community en route back to Alberta.

But ESS branch coordinator Will Beatty says the program is not set up to process evacuees from out of province, though he notes discussions are ongoing.

“The information that we’re getting right now from the province is to steer people towards Calgary,” Beatty said. “There are some considerations around local communities offering public spaces for folks to be able to catch some brief relief, some light refreshments and what not, and against those considerations are being made kind of on the fly, as we can best support the amount of evacuees coming from Jasper.”

Beatty says he understands that some people from Alberta may be frustrated if they’re told to keep on driving after doing so for several hours, though he said the City is also looking into the option of temporarily opening facilities so people can get a bit of rest and some refreshments before heading east.

“I agree with the frustration that can come from a scenario like that,” Beatty added. “But the instruction we’re getting from the province as we administer their emergency support services program is to follow the information on Emergency Info BC, and that is the directions to a Calgary centre for people from Jasper.”

Beatty says those guidelines are in place so that any Kamloops-area residents who may be facing new evacuation orders after Monday’s thunderstorm can be supported.

“That is what this program is intended to do obviously as a host community in Kamloops,” Beatty said. “But at the same time, if these interprovincial governmental relationships are being met, if that changes, we’ll pivot and be offer those services as needed.”

– With files from the Canadian Press and Victor Kaisar