By Andreea Perescu
As the wildfire continues to burn, all eight Waterloo students planning to work in Fort McMurray this term have returned to Ontario. When the massive wildfire began to threaten the city last Monday evening, student evacuation began immediately. Emails and text messages were exchanged with displaced students into the early hours of Tuesday morning as Waterloo staff tracked their whereabouts.
“We knew where [the students] were, and we were trying to communicate with them at least twice a day,” said Peggy Eichinger, a Co-operative Education regional manager located in western Canada.
Four of the eight co-op students were conducting field research under the supervision of Waterloo Professor Richard Petrone from the Faculty of Environment. “Everybody that left, left with just their rubber boots and their field clothes on," stated Professor Petrone in a recent CTV article.
While some students were promptly flown out of the city, others were evacuated to safe locations in Fort McMurray and Edmonton.
For the students affected by the fire, Waterloo’s network of local staff was able to assist with the evacuation process. The employers, faculty members and student advisor situated in Fort McMurray were quick to offer support during the earliest hours of the crisis. Other safety resources include:
- Concrete workplace safety guidelines for employers
- 24-hour police duty on campus and an evening shuttle service
- The WatSAFE app for timely emergency notifications to the whole campus
Ensuring that co-op students are safe is always a priority, no matter where they are in the world.
