A busload of high school students were finally heading home to Nanaimo on Wednesday after they were stranded by a raging wildfire that forced them to spend the night inside a Port Alberni high school.
The approximately 50 students and their chaperones were meant to return Tuesday from a field trip to Tofino, a roughly three-hour drive from Nanaimo.
British Columbia's Transportation Ministry established an emergency detour route around the fire site at Cameron Lake on Wednesday using logging roads that connect Port Alberni to the tiny community of Youbou, approximately one hour southeast of Nanaimo.The students were still on the bus Wednesday afternoon after packing up their sleeping mats and leaving first thing in the morning to avoid disrupting regular classes at the Port Alberni school.
The school district spokesperson said Port Alberni community members donated blankets and pillows to the students, while their families back home were kept up to date on the situation via email.The Cameron Bluffs wildfire, located approximately 20 kilometres east of Port Alberni, grew to nearly one and a half square kilometres Wednesday afternoon.
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