'Ash was raining down': Saskatoon couple among thousands forced to flee Jasper
CTV
Multiple wildfires in Jasper National Park forced a Saskatoon couple to evacuate the park on Monday night.
Multiple wildfires in Jasper National Park forced a Saskatoon couple, along with thousands of residents and visitors, to evacuate the park on Monday night.
Kregg Ochitwa, a Saskatoon resident, said he and his wife had their camping trip planned since January. The couple had only been there for a day, when things went awry.
“We were enjoying yesterday, doing some hikes and stuff like that, and then the evening started to get a little bit smoky, really windy, and you could actually start to feel like ash was raining down,” Ochitwa said in an interview with CTV News on Tuesday.
He said they were in the townsite when they heard roads were starting to close and people were being evacuated. That’s when they decided to head back to their campsite and pack up.
“By the time our tent was down and everything was in our car it was about 10:40 p.m.,” he said.
Ochitwa said it was about a four and a half hour wait to leave the campground.
“It was pretty much gridlocked,” he said.
