‘It’s completely gone.’ After fast-moving wildfire destroys brother’s home, woman opens her own to evacuees

July 27, 2024 Canuck

Kim Titchener knows first-hand how caring the Jasper community can be, and she’s hoping to give back as much as possible now that the town and its people are in need.

Titchener plans to open her home to wildfire evacuees from the small mountain town after a fast-moving wildfire tore through the park Wednesday.

“I’m here today because Jasper is a very special place,” Titchener said. “The people there would literally give you the shirt off their back.”

She and her family have a strong connection to the mountain town, Titchener said. Her brother lived there, and her family took yearly trips to the area.

In 2016, when her brother was crushed by a boulder and paralyzed, Titchener said Jasper was one of three communities that came to his aid.

“(In) Jasper they raised like $50,000 for him,” she said. “You can’t even understand how connected these people are with each other, and how strong they are.

“I know they will get through this.”

Titchener’s brother is one of 25,000 people who were forced to flee the national park on Monday night.

While he was able to escape the fire – the building where he lived was one of the 358 structures reportedly destroyed.

Titchener said it’s been difficult for everyone over the past few days as they scoured social media for any information on what remained and what had been claimed by the fire.

Many of the images they found, she added, were unrecognizable.

On the left, a Google Street View photo of Geikie Street in Jasper, Alta, in 2022. On the right, a photo sent to Kim Titchener of the Geikie Street, where her brother’s apartment was, after a wildfire on July 24, 2024. “It didn’t look like Jasper,” she said. “And then I started to recognize it, and then I could see that some of my friends’ houses were burning … we only just got the image last night of my brother’s home and it’s completely gone.”

Wanting to help in any way she can, Titchener has been gathering donations, organizing care packages and is busy making sure her home is ready to welcome wildfire evacuees.

“I’m getting all my bedrooms ready,” she said. “I normally take in Ukrainian refugees. I don’t have anybody right now, so I can just take (people) in as a bed and breakfast.”

Titchener said Jasper is a special place that brings people together from around the world, and she knows the park – and the people who call it home – with some help and some time.

“It’s more than the buildings, It’s more than the homes – It’s a sense of place, it’s a community and those pieces are still there,” she said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would be matching individual donations to the Red Cross to help Jasper and other Alberta communities affected by wildfires.

Donations can be made on the Red Cross website.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti

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