It is what she lives for.
That’s what CJ’s Southwestern Grill restaurant owner Cathie Rossignol said of the fact she and some helpers are preparing 1,600 meals a day for people on the front lines of the wildfires near Williams Lake.
“We are feeding the 150 Mile, Miocene, Wildwood fire departments, the emergency operations centre and firefighters up at the Cariboo Fire Centre,” Rossignol said during a phone interview with the Tribune Tuesday morning. “We are also feeding a timber crew out at Alexis Creek with Consus Forest Management.”
When asked if there’s been a shortage of food, she said not at all.
Food trucks arrive daily with supplies.
As for the menu, she opens the fridge and freezer to see what’s inside and goes from there.
“We are making lots of comfort food - roast beef and mashed potatoes, chicken and potatoes, soup and bannock, things like that. It is really just day-by-day with what we’ve got and responding to phone calls telling us they need more food.”
The Cariboo Regional District picks up the food for the fire halls while CJs delivers it to the fire centre.
They also have the doors open at the restaurant so if someone walks by they can get a meal there too.
Rossignol believes other than Tim Hortons hers is the only other restaurant open full time right now, while The Laughing Loon and Dog n’ Suds are open a few hours a day to feed RCMP and firefighters.
“The other night we had 12 to 15 RCMP officers in here and we wanted to make things normal so we fired up the barbecue and cooked some steaks.”
With most of the city evacuated after the order came down Saturday evening, Rossignol said everyone that has stayed behind seems upbeat.
Nobody complains and everybody is happy, she added.
In the next few days she anticipates things will slow down a bit because camps are being set up at each of the fire departments and she will no longer be preparing those meals.
“And I think we will be finished making as many meals for the fire centre today.”
Rossignol will stay for the long haul and isn’t going anywhere, but when it’s all over and everyone is back she said “I’m out of here, for a holiday.”