Atlantic Canadians helping with wildfire relief in B.C.

A total of 39 personnel for the Canadian Red Cross from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador and P.E.I. were deployed to help in Williams Lake, B.C.

A total of 39 people from N.S., N.B., N.L. and P.E.I. volunteering or working for Canadian Red Cross

Anjuli Patil · CBC News · Posted: Sep 04, 2017 6:06 PM EDT | Last Updated: September 4, 2017

Residents of Williams Lake, B.C., told Red Cross volunteer Mark Genuist they were terrified watching flames encircle their town. (Supplied/Kaitlyn Dorion)

As wildfires continue to rage across B.C., more than three dozen Atlantic Canadians have left their homes to volunteer or work for the Canadian Red Cross on the West Coast.

Marc Genuist, a longtime CBC reporter in Moncton who is now retired and living in Antigonish, N.S., has been on the ground in Williams Lake, B.C. for more than a week. He and other volunteers will be rotated in for three week stints.

"We do various things. The main one is case work to figure out how much money these people are entitled to, to help them to deal with the fact that they were evacuated," said Genuist, who has has been a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross for about a year.

Helping out

"All the bills that were coming to help them to get them back into their location, to deal with hotel bills, to deal with gas money, to deal with food that's been lost."

Residents of Williams Lake were ordered out of the city on July 15, and not allowed to return until July 27. An evacuation alert was lifted Aug. 15.

Marc Genuist was a reporter for CBC New Brunswick in Moncton before retiring. He is now a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross in Antigonish, N.S. (CBC)

"I could see the devastation that the town was threatened by," said Genuist.

"I also got a chance to talk to people in the community ... and they were telling me of how when the evacuation order came, they could look up into the mountains and they could see flames leaping up behind them and starting to encircle the town and how terrified they were."

Stressful, rewarding work

Genuist said when he got to Williams Lake, there were people lined up out the door looking for help. On Monday, he said the rush had subsided, but that there's still a need. He said mobile units are sent to places where people aren't easily able to travel to Williams Lake.

The work can be stressful, Genuist admits, but said the Red Cross is constantly checking in with volunteers to see how they're doing.

Compared to his time as a reporter, Genuist said volunteering lets him help people in a more direct way.

Since the onset of the forest fire evacuations in B.C., the Canadian Red Cross has deployed 39 personnel from the Atlantic provinces, mostly volunteers but also a few full-time staff.

There are 18 from Nova Scotia, eight from New Brunswick, three from P.E.I. and 10 from Newfoundland & Labrador.