Courtesy of the Town of Rainbow Lake:
May 19 2023 – Another quiet day in Rainbow Lake yesterday. Another day or two of inactivity and we will be looking at demobilizing our sprinklers deployed on the homes and some of the water tanks and bladders located around Town. We will still be maintaining patrols throughout the day and night, but today, the Town looks secure and getting better every day. Last night, we were able to review our draft re-entry plan with Town Council and a number of residents who were able to join in person or over Zoom. These plans do not have dates in them yet but lays out the checklist of services and inspections that need to take place before people can come home. The biggest unknowns right now is when the fire will stop threatening Highway 58, our only road in and out of Town, and how long it will take Atco to restore the large number of poles that have been damaged by the fire. For the purposes of planning for your families, we are anticipating at least another week before we may get to the re-entry point.
One item to be mindful of is that when we do move to the re-entry phase, people will still be coming home to an active fire area. You will continue to see plumes outside of the immediate Town area but please rest assured that we will not begin re-entry until our Fire crew and Alberta Wildfire believe it is safe to do so.
Regarding the freezer clean out program, we have hit a point where we believe it may be better for residents to discuss with their insurance providers the replacement of the entire appliance. We have received more then 50 requests to clear out freezers and we will finish them today, but with the rotting and the mould beginning, these appliances are becoming a hazard.
The question has also come up at this point if there will be any Town of Rainbow Lake specific evacuation payments in addition to the Provincial Emergency Evacuation Payment. I am afraid that the Town does not have an emergency payment program. If you are struggling financially due to this evacuation, we have beds available at our reception centre in High Level at 10101 105 Ave, High Level, AB, T0H 1Z0. They serve three meals a day at this location and it is free of charge to residents. If you are in a safe place but have lost work due to the evacuation you may qualify for financial assistance. You may reach out to Alberta Works for income support inquiries on their website at https://www.alberta.ca/income-support.aspx or call their High Level office number at 1-780-841-4315. You may also qualify for Employment Insurance, please visit the Government of Canada’s website regarding Employment Insurance: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei.html. If you need assistance navigating these resources and would like some guidance you may reach out to the High Level FCSS at 1-780-821-4026.
Also, regarding financial assistance from the Town, utility bills that were sent out prior to the emergency will have their deadlines extended out until July. There will be no utility billing for the month of May. Once we are able to complete re-entry, we will also look at extending the deadline to pay taxes, as those notices went out just before the emergency began.
Once the fire threat has passed the Cenovus plant and Highway 58, and we are able to confirm dates with Atco regarding restoration of power, we will update our re-entry plans and make them available on the Town website. We will provide an update once this information is available through our regular channels.
I would also like to open it up to our residents that have specific questions they would like addressed in the updates to email me at dfletcher@rainbowlake.ca and so long as we stay quiet here, I will try to address them as best I can for everyone with the following update.
Please stay safe and we will continue to push out daily updates here and on our Town of Rainbow Lake Facebook page.
