'Ash was raining down': Saskatoon couple among thousands forced to flee Jasper

Kregg Ochitwa wife were part of the gridlocked traffic trying to leave Jasper National Park after an evacuation order was issued Monday evening. (Courtesy: Kregg Ochitwa)

Multiple wildfires in Jasper National Park forced a Saskatoon couple, along with thousands of residents and visitors, to evacuate the park on Monday night.

Kregg Ochitwa, a Saskatoon resident, said he and his wife had their camping trip planned since January. The couple had only been there for a day, when things went awry.

“We were enjoying yesterday, doing some hikes and stuff like that, and then the evening started to get a little bit smoky, really windy, and you could actually start to feel like ash was raining down,” Ochitwa said in an interview with CTV News on Tuesday.

He said they were in the townsite when they heard roads were starting to close and people were being evacuated. That’s when they decided to head back to their campsite and pack up.

“By the time our tent was down and everything was in our car it was about 10:40 p.m.,” he said.

Ochitwa said it was about a four and a half hour wait to leave the campground.

“It was pretty much gridlocked,” he said.

Ochitwa said they then made the roughly 125 kilometre trip to Valemont, B.C., travelling at about 50km/h.

“Every turn off, every little stop, there were tons of campers and cars just going to camp there for the night,” he said.

He said they camped at a Valemont golf course and got a couple hours of sleep. On Tuesday morning, the couple began travelling to Kamloops.

“It's car after car on the highway here. Kind of like going home from a Rider game,” he said.

Ochitwa said they have to go through Kamloops to get home, turning a normally nine hour drive to a 21 hour trip.

“It’s going to be a long way home,” he said.

He said at the end of the day, he’s glad they got out safe.