While the province typically takes the lead in emergency victim support, there’ s nothing saying the municipality can’ t do it, too.
While the province typically takes the lead in emergency victim support, there’ s nothing saying the municipality can’ t do it, too.
In the aftermath of a fire that partially destroyed the Lakeview Manor apartment building on Saturday morning, Lac La Biche County has stepped in to lend a hand and help make sure there’ s no lag in support for displaced residents.
“Generally, the province addresses community needs resulting from emergencies, such as temporary accommodations and access to personal necessities,” said the county’ s chief administrative officer Shadia Amblie, “however, the county is keeping close contact with (local) agencies to identify gaps in services where the county may be able to help.”
The local RCMP detachment’ s Victim Services unit and Alberta Human Services officials have been spearheading relief efforts, which include arranging hotel rooms and emergency supplies for residents who have no place else to go. The Canadian Red Cross covered the costs of 72 hours’ worth of assistance (until Monday morning), but now the burden of support is shifting to other groups.
“We will continue to maintain contact with our community support agencies to ensure our citizens’ needs are met,” Amblie said.
After the fire was extinguished-while residents were still trying to get their bearings-a community meeting was held at McArthur Place to bring stakeholders up to speed on what had happened and what would be happening in the next several days.
The county waived the cost for renting the meeting space and made the Paratransit bus available to take residents where they needed to go.
Speaking at that meeting, Mayor Omer Moghrabi said the county had no intention of turning its back on the people in need.
“These are our residents. We’ re not about to walk away,” he said.
Moghrabi was one of the many people who converged on the scene of the fire. While firefighters worked on containing and abating the flames, the mayor directed people on where to go and spoke words of encouragement.
Moghrabi and the rest of county council are currently away at a convention, but he assured residents before leaving that the municipal administration knew what steps to take in the politicians’ absence.
