Prince George, BC – City residents seem to be searching for a way to honour the two men who died and others who suffered severe injury in Monday night’s explosion and fire at Lakeland Mills, as evidenced by this memorial at the edge of the property along River Road.

As the community learned more details about the tragedy on Tuesday, the Prince George RCMP’s Victim Services let it be known that anyone feeling they needed some support, or just somebody to talk to, could call their office.  But Victim Services Coordinator, Krista Levar, says she’s been overwhelmed with people calling in to offer, rather than seek, support.

"I have been getting tons of phone calls – not so much from people needing help – but from the community of people wanting to offer their support to their fellow community members."

"I think that it shows how tight this community is," says Levar.  "When you see all of these people so willing to help – like grocery stores wanting to offer food and local pastors calling and wanting to offer their prayers – it’s just so amazing and lovely."

Hearing of the spontaneous memorial at Lakeland, Levar says, "That’s great, it gives people an avenue to deal with their grief – and that is often the challenge in these situations, there’s always that need for people."

Levar has been compiling a list of people who’ve called to offer some assistance.  She says there has been some preliminary discussion with other agencies – like the City, WorkSafe BC, and local dignataries – about possibly holding an open meeting or forum to allow city residents to talk about the Lakeland tragedy.

"When there is a disaster of this magnitude, people are affected and it’s not just the direct family members," says the Victim Services Coordinator.  "I mean, yes, those directly involved are naturally affected and we know to expect those people are going to be traumatized, but the rest of the community often suffers ‘vicarious’ trauma."

Levar says she just wanted to ‘put it out there’ that Victim Services is available to all city residents.  The number to call is 250-561-3329.