My province is on fire. More than a week ago, wildfires near the town of Fort McMurray, Alberta (in north-west Canada) invaded the town. The fires destroyed everything– houses, power-lines, and town infrastructure. The entire town of more than 80,000 people was evaucated. The forest fire is still not contained.
How big is the Fort McMurray wildfire? The #ymmfire's size compared to London, NYC & Toronto https://t.co/gUas3XLBYW pic.twitter.com/N04gSpWtca
— CNN (@CNN) May 7, 2016
Many evacuees drove out of town, clogging the highways that were not built for this type of mass exodus.
Absolutely insane images from Ft McMurray!Taken a few minutes ago on on of the last routes open to get out! #ymmfire pic.twitter.com/SIhOjTUJWS
— JustDave (@DaveHead40) May 4, 2016
People drove until they ran out of gas, then they left their vehicles on the side of the road, presumably hitching rides with those with fuller thanks. It looked like the opening scene from a post-apocalyptic thriller.
The show opening for @CBCEdmonton special on #ymmfire really brings it home https://t.co/FBr0J3orvy
— Lisa Khoo (@lisa_khoo) May 7, 2016
Almost immediately, Albertans started filling jerry cans with gasoline and driving toward Fort Mac to help out. The hashtag #AlbertaStrong started trending. Several nearby oil companies’ camps welcomed evacuees, and began flying them out of town to the two largest Alberta cities: Edmonton, and my city, Calgary.
One of the most heart-warming aspects of the evacuees’ trip out of town was the focus on pet safety and well-being.
1 of our evacuee passengers from #YMM has gone into labour so our #yeg flight ops team is looking after "Meow Meow"! pic.twitter.com/G89Mnuurel
— Canadian North ✈ (@CanadianNorth) May 5, 2016
Folks starting driving back into Fort McMurray to rescue pets and farm animals that had been left behind. (We’re tough, in Alberta. And kind of bad*ss.) Facebook pages started springing up to connect lost pets with their families. Airlines transporting evacuees allowed animals to fly in the coach, rather than in the cargo hold.
Thx for all the kudos everyone. Happy to help move 2 & 4 legged pax from #ymm. Our FA Heidi shared this pic on FB 🙂 pic.twitter.com/IBChAWzMba
— Canadian North ✈ (@CanadianNorth) May 6, 2016
I volunteered with my two daughters at the airport for one of the oil companies flying evacuees out, to drive folks to their new Calgary homes. There were dog treats and a water bowl set up. I was told that before we had arrived, someone had flown with their lizard.
WestJet and Canadian North airlines changed their policies in the emergency. Both airlines adapted to support the human and animal evacuees, and to treat them with dignity and care.
Plane full of evacuated people, dogs, cats, bunnies, and one tree frog headed from #FortMacFire #Wildfire #westjet pic.twitter.com/Hk0kNMxJPP
— Cas Courcelles (@cascourcelles) May 6, 2016
As of writing, there are over 88,000 human Fort McMurray residents staying elsewhere, plus many more non-human evacuees.
Proud to be associated with @WestJet who we luv now even more seeing that pets and people are safe #FortMacStrong pic.twitter.com/WYTwVZzrEY
— Big Brothers Big Sis (@bbbspc) May 7, 2016
The provincial and federal governments have pledged to help rebuild. The current estimate for the cost of rebuilding the town is around $9 billion CAD. If you want to donate to the relief effort, you can donate to the Red Cross here. All Red Cross donations will be matched by the Canadian government.
H/t The Dodo.
