Yellowknife man collecting donations for Northern Alberta fire evacuees

This photo of a fire near High Level, AB was taken late in May

A Yellowknife man is collecting donations for people in Northern Alberta who have been displaced by wildfires.

Thousands of people from High level as well as at least three nearby First Nations communities have been forced from their homes over the last week or so.

It appears they may be away from home for a while yet as changing winds Sunday pushed the fire back towards populated areas.

Stu Impett, owner of Det’on Cho Logistics in Yellowknife, has posted on his Facebook page that he has been in touch with the evacuation coordinator in High Level, adding that the Fort Vermillion evacuee site is running low on the following items:

Men’s & women’s & kids underwear
Laundry detergent
Bounce sheets
Vaseline tubes
Travel sized lotions
Travel shaving cream
Hair elastics
Polysporin
Blankets
Pillows

“I ask if any of you can purchase these items and bring them to Det’on Cho Logistics starting at 10:00 am until 6:00 pm tomorrow Monday May 27,” Impett stated. “Let’s help our neighbours to the south !! We are not strangers to fires. Let’s fill the airplane fast so we can get the supplies moving!!”

Donators can drop items off at 101 McMillan Street near the airport.

It is the white warehouse across from Aurora Ford on the airport service road

Impett says Summit Air also gets a lot of thanks and praise after it offered to fly all the donations to Fort Vermillion as soon as they have enough to fill the aircraft.

He adds that people can contact him with any questions.

Some evacuees have come north since the fire forced them out and are staying in the South Slave Region.

About the Author

John McFadden
John has been in the broadcast journalism industry since the 1980s. He has been a reporter in Yellowknife since 2012 and joined CKLB in January of 2018. John covers the crime and court beat as well as reporting on other areas including politics, business, entertainment and sports. He won seven national community newspaper awards while he was a journalist with Northern News Services Limited (NNSL). John worked in Ontario before coming North including stints as a TV sportscaster in Peterborough and senior news writer for CBC and CTV in downtown Toronto.