Remember our friends John and Di, who three weeks ago had to evacuate their home in Jasper National Park, because of a raging forest fire that swept through the Jasper townsite. They have been living with friends in McBride ever since then. None of the Jasper residents had been allowed to return to the town that had one third of its buildings destroyed.
After about of a week after the fire, John and Di were finally able to find out that their home had miraculously been spared from the fire, but it wasn’t until yesterday, that Jasper residents could finally return to the homes that had not been destroyed.
We got a call from Di yesterday, and she was happy to report that their place remained exactly as they had left it. Even the plants in their small back yard were still green. The two had been worried about the state of the food that they had left in the fridge and freezer, thinking it would be a rotting moulding mess when they returned, but happily, it seems that the power had remained on, or at least had been quickly restored, because inside the fridge and freezer, things still looked good.
The two have been very impressed with the support they had found upon their return. There is all kind of physical help available for those that needed it, as well as financial funds to pay for the expenses incurred while being evacuated.
I think only one grocery store and one gas station remain in Jasper, so it will be a while before more such basic services can be rebuilt and restored.
After a few days of organizing things in Jasper, John and Di plan return to McBride for a while, before returning full time living in Jasper. They have been very lucky to not have their home and all of their possessions destroyed by the fire. So many of their friends and acquaintances in Jasper have lost everything, and are reeling, trying to put together a new future for themselves.
Take a look at my paintings: davidmarchant2.ca
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