A veteran-led humanitarian organization has been providing an invaluable for Jasper residents unable to enter their damaged or destroyed homes.
Team Rubicon has been sifting through the rubble and ash in hopes of recovering items that have importance or sentimental value, including wedding rings and family heirlooms.
“It’s really been incredible to witness the resiliency of this community,” said Charles-Antoine Duval, volunteer leader and operation section chief with Team Rubicon. “They've suffered a significant loss and just incredible devastation, and to witness how the community has responded to it and allowed us to come and provide them with assistance has just been really, really incredible.”
So far, the volunteers have sifted through over 200 properties in Jasper with 90 orders remaining as of last Friday (Sept. 13). They plan to start winding down operations on Friday, Sept. 20.
Only trained professionals, such as Team Rubicon Canada or insurance representatives, are permitted to go behind the blue fencing placed around damaged properties due to potential hazards.
There is no cost to the homeowner for Team Rubicon’s services.
Duval said volunteers are trained to work in a technical environment, and while they are in the field, they are under the direct lead of a strike team leader, who has additional training.
The team leader goes in first to assess the property and discuss with the homeowner where the items they are looking for might be located so Team Rubicon can target those areas.
“Once that initial assessment is done, the team leader is essentially responsible for communicating between the team and the residents of the home that are present with us, and then our teams would go in a rotation to attempt to find the items,” Duval said.
Residents are not allowed to be in or near the immediate residence, but Team Rubicon establishes an area where homeowners can be as close as possible without being endangered. Volunteers must wear protective clothing and PPE to work in this environment.
“There’s a lot of hazards that our teams have to kind of be on the lookout for,” Duval said. “Beyond just the toxic materials that are present in the homes, they also have to make sure that they’re navigating a potentially unstable environment as well as, obviously, all the rubble.”
Duval noted that sifting was emotional work, but many volunteers were either veterans or retired first responders. He also acknowledged how the Jasper Royal Canadian Legion has been housing Team Rubicon.
“It’s been incredible,” he added. “Every evening, when our teams return from the field, we do a debrief as a group about how the day went, and one of the things we do is we ask every team to share a particular story or moment that resonated with them that day, and to hear those teams share what they're experiencing out there with those residents has really been just a really rewarding, an incredible experience.”
Lorraine Stanko and her husband Ron, who lost their home in the devastating wildfire, were among those who volunteered with Team Rubicon. Since day one, they have been helping sift through destroyed homes in Jasper, including their own.
They were able to find a glass-blown leopard trophy that she received for running a seven-day footrace in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. They also recovered items such as Ron’s mom’s family Swiss brass bell, his silver coin collection and a caboose lamp which was his father’s.
Stanko noted that volunteering with Team Rubicon and assisting Jasperites has helped her deal with the loss of her home.
“Going out at 7 a.m. to meet people and help them find treasures and memories is so rewarding,” she said in an email. “Being there to comfort them in their time of sadness, being able to give a hug, giving them some closure and able to move on to the next step has given me more than I can ever say.”
Stanko described how she made many new friends by joining Team Rubicon and planned to deploy with them in the future, if not for a disaster response then for training.
“I will never forget what Team Rubicon have done for me and the people of Jasper, and they will always be my family,” she added.
Among other items, Team Rubicon has recovered challenge coins from veterans, workplace emblems and even a treasured racing bib of David Leoni, a 2006 Turin Olympic biathlon athlete.
Leoni also got back a family Christmas tree topper, a star that has sat on top of their tree since before his children were born. He described Team Rubicon as a group of “big-hearted volunteers.”
“In agreeing to search my home, they took on significant personal risk and were able to recover two items that I had given up for lost,” Leoni said in an email. “Both of these items are priceless to us, and credit is fully due to the amazing work and bravery of Team Rubicon. Their help was a ray of warm sunshine in an unbelievably difficult time.”
With the help of Team Rubicon, Jason Stockfish was able to recover his grandfather’s Masonic ring and his wife’s wedding band.
“Considering how small they are and the fact that practically everything was just reduced to ash [and] these were buried under so much stuff, it’s insane that they're able to find them,” Stockfish said in a phone interview.
He described watching Team Rubicon sift through the remains of his house as a surreal experience.
“My wife was pretty emotional when she would see these things,” he said. “We didn’t expect them to find anything, so when they started pulling out these artifacts – whatever you want to call them – it seemed like a miracle. Just every little thing that [they] could recover, we were so happy with, and things that you just take no mind to before, like I say, become innate treasures moving forward.”
He added that Team Rubicon was both professional and empathetic.
“They’re heroes,” he said. “I don't put many people on pedestals anymore, but these people are something else.”
Nancy Addison was not physically present the day that Team Rubicon sifted through her house, but two of her adult children were present, and the Rubicon team leader spoke to her over FaceTime.
The team took four hours to search for a gold wedding band that had belonged to her grandfather. Not for lack of trying, they were unable to locate it.
“They did find a gold necklace that had been gifted to me by my husband Mark,” Addison said in an email. “It is not in any shape to wear again, but it will serve as a family heirloom item to remind us of this wildfire.”
They also salvaged two side entrance gates and two fine China teacups that had belonged to Addison's grandmother, which were covered with soot but were otherwise undamaged.
“We feel indebted to all the Rubicon team,” she added.
