EDMONTON -- While Mark Critch and his bus drivers were rushing to help thousands of residents flee the flood zone in Fort McMurray, he says several of his buses were being vandalized.
“It feels like a kick in the guts, to be honest. But there’s not much you can do, only ‘grin and bear it,’ as my dad would say,” Critch, owner of Sparksman Transportation Ltd., said over the phone from Fort McMurray Wednesday.
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Critch said his team started helping evacute residents from the local seniors centre on Sunday.
From then until Wednesday, he said his buses transported thousands of people out of the lower townsite flood zones to reception centres in safer locations.
On Tuesday morning, staff noticed three parked buses were damaged by a total of four large graffiti tags.
The incident was reported to RCMP and the company’s general manager Tim O’Hara posted photos to a local Facebook group, hoping the public would help catch whoever did it.
“Whether it’s a life lesson or anything else, people need to be accountable for their actions,” Critch said, adding he doesn’t expect police to make this a priority right now.
“I’m pretty sure once our very hardworking members of the RCMP have an opportunity, they’ll have a better look at it,” he said. “But I sympathize with them right now. They’re working around the clock.”
In the meantime, Critch said his buses have been moved to more secure locations.
On top of the vandalism and bus driver layoffs due to COVID-19 closing schools, Sparksman Transportation’s shop was also in the flood zone and under several feet of water Wednesday, in what Critch called a “tough stretch.”
The damaged buses will have to be cleaned with a special chemical to remove the paint, but Critch doesn’t know when he’ll be able to access his shop to do that work.
Still, despite all the challenges now and ahead, Critch has not lost faith in Fort McMurray.
“People are banding together and doing wonderful things. So I don’t let this skew my view of the town and the people,” he said, adding his own neighbours were helping others with supplies and sandbags.
Sparksman Transportation is encouraging anyone with information about the vandalism to contact Wood Buffalo RCMP.
