Moving into day three of the Town evacuation, it feels great to be communicating with you concerning what is happening.

Yesterday I went to Whitecourt to stop at the evacuee Reception Centre where I met with our team, who are doing an amazing job. They were quick to point out that Whitecourt has demonstrated efficiencies to streamline the reception centre process and they were grateful for the opportunity to learn and improve operations.

The team also stated the Whitecourt residents and organizations have been awesome. Meals and essentials are in abundance and smiling, helpful people are everywhere. The hosting community has gone above and beyond to help the evacuees from wherever they may come.

Several daily updates will be available on our facebook page via www.valleyview.ca. Please be sure not to miss the 6:00pm daily briefing from Fire Chief Danny McCallum, who will provide updates on the technical side of the fire and maybe some insight in what we can expect.

Thank you to the RCMP, our Community Peace Officer and security personnel for keeping our Town in good hands; to our Emergency Management team, Town staff and Administration; and to the RCMP and all the firefighters out there working to contain and extinguish the fires.

We are hoping to see you all home very soon, but this will happen only once it is entirely safe to do so. Your safety and well-being is our number one priority.

Until tomorrow…. Stay safe.

Sincerely,

Vern Lymburner
Mayor
Town of Valleyview