A group of venturer scouts who were among the first to flee Jasper National Park after last week’s evacuation order are finally back home in Ottawa.
Flames engulfed the town of Jasper, Alta., and the adjacent national park on July 22, destroying more than 30 per cent of the town and displacing thousands of people.
The scouts said they felt lucky to be safe.
The 13 scouts aged 14-17 resumed their itinerary just days after the wildfire derailed what should have been a peaceful camping trip.
Despite some flight cancellations, they finally made it home Saturday.
Ash fell from the sky
Devin Morrison, the scout leader for the group, said it wasn’t long after they returned to their campsite in Jasper National Park on Monday before they knew they had to leave.
He estimates they were about 10 kilometres from the blaze.
“We knew when ash started to fall toward us that it was getting a little bit out of hand,” Morrison said.
The group was packed up and on the road within fifteen minutes of receiving the evacuation order.
“Everyone put their heads down, did what they had to do,” said Molly Prevost, one of the scouts.
Eager to salvage the trip, the scouts then drove out of the park — singing along to loud music.
“It was definitely a bit of unease because we were evacuating from a forest fire,” said Jacob Hubbard, another scout. “But we all did our best to comfort each other.”
“We were very lucky to be able to make it [out] when we did,” Morrison added.
Not the only emergency of the trip
The group made it to Mount Robson Provincial Park in B.C. in the wee hours of the morning, where they slept. When they woke up, they made breakfast for a few tourists from Germany and England who also had to flee.
The wildfire wasn’t the only piece of national news the scouts witnessed on their venture.
They were forced to leave the Wild Canada exhibit at the Calgary Zoo just days before the fire started, when a play-fighting accident drowned Baffin the polar bear.
“It was a shock to them,” Morrison said.
Going ‘out with a bang’
The trip was the final one for many of the scouts, as they’re about to age out of the program. They’d planned it themselves over four to five months and wanted their last expedition with the group to be a memorable one.
“They wanted to go out with a bang,” Morrison said.
While it wasn’t memorable in the way they planned, Morrison said that once they made it to safety the scouts were able to pivot and make the most of their detour.
They also looked after each other during the trip, he added, and put their skills to use.
“These youth are going to have these memories for the rest of the rest of their lives — of facing this adversity and moving past it,” he said.
“I have never been more proud of a team.”
Ottawa Morning5:31Ottawa scouts safe after evacuating Jasper National Park due to wildfire
The 23rd Nepean Gryphon Legion Venturers expected a fun camping trip when they went to Jasper, Alta. this week. What the scouts found when they got there was something different.