Photo: Twitter - YLW

WestJet is flying about 5,000 pounds of food and water donated by Kelowna firms to a small airstrip at Firebag, Alta., for evacuated Fort McMurray residents currently staying nearby, says Kelowna airport manager Sam Sammadar.

The flight left just after 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Some 2,000 people are located at camps around Suncor's oilsands site where the airstrip is located, north of Fort McMurray where crews are battling a massive, out-of-control wildfire that has burned some neighbourhoods to the ground.

“Sending out a huge thank you to ‪@westjet for organizing the #FortMcMurray humanitarian flight!” YLW tweeted Wednesday.

The airport also thanked donors for pitching in, including Bark n' Fly dog daycare, the BC SPCA, B.C. Tree Fruits, DeSimone Farms, Skyway Group, Bread Co., Ironman Holdings and others.

Water, sandwiches, fruit, other food and pet kennels are being flown in on a regularly scheduled flight to Firebag, said Sammadar.

The Bombardier Q-400, which seats 78, usually flies oilsands employees who are scheduled to work at Suncor.

“They are not flying people into work at this point,” said Sammadar. “They are getting people out of there.”

Sammadar said Fort McMurray's airport was closed to regular flights. “The forest service has taken it over. The airspace is closed due to air tanker activity.”

In a call to the airport manager last night, Sammadar was told it was a disaster for the community that was already suffering due to the downturn in the oil economy.

Meanwhile, WestJet spokeswoman Lauren Stewart said the airline also flew to another airstrip “north of Fort McMurray, which included working with Alberta Health Services, to bring water and supplies into the area and transport patients who were mobile enough to board a plane, out of the area.”

WestJet employees and some others who couldn't get out of the area Tuesday were flown from Fort McMurray's airport earlier Wednesday but the airport is now closed.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation,” said Stewart. “We will be making a donation of $25,000 to the Red Cross with employees to match. We are encouraging cash as the information from the Red Cross sounds like this is most useful at this time.”