Fort Mac Wildfire Thread

[loob job]

I'm in Ontario and when I checked out at Costco they asked everyone if we'd like to make a donation to Fort Mac.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by habernac

Heard a shout out from Marc Maron on the WTF podcast for the wildfire, we're getting offers of help from the Russians and the Mexicans, it was front page news on London late last week, I'm floored at how many people know about this.

It's actually not that uncommon. Canada is also always offering help to countries when disasters (no matter how big or small) and are usually turned down.

I recall when the Manitoba floods hit back in the late 1990s, Cuba was one of the countries offering help for us.

[Nyah]

When I was a smoker I would keep a half bottle of water in my car to put butts out in. Drop the butt in and make sure it goes out, put the lid back on. That way your car doesn't smell like ashtray (as much) and you're not being a jerk and just throwing your butts out the window. There is literally no excuse for people to continue to flick cigarette butts out the window - I'm convinced they just don't give a #### whatsoever.

On a side note, is there any way of reporting people who do this? Would a call in with a licence plate number actually amount to anything, especially right now?

[para transit fellow]

live stream of fort mcmurray media tour
http://www.630ched.com/

15:05 update. tour over and they head to the emerg operations centre.

Remarkable images

[Locke]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It's actually not that uncommon. Canada is also always offering help to countries when disasters (no matter how big or small) and are usually turned down.

I recall when the Manitoba floods hit back in the late 1990s, Cuba was one of the countries offering help for us.

"Please say no! Please say no! Please say no!"

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by habernac

Heard a shout out from Marc Maron on the WTF podcast for the wildfire, we're getting offers of help from the Russians and the Mexicans, it was front page news on London late last week, I'm floored at how many people know about this.

We have friends in Stockholm, they said the fire made the front page.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Leondros

Too bad then, have a smelly car - people who smoke already smell like ash trays, why not their cars.

Either buy one of those butt holders or live with a smelly car.

For the record I had smelly cars when I smoked

[Boblobla]

Is it just standard practice to decline the help from other nations? I mean, if the fire is, as they say, going to take several months to extinguish why no add some additional planes?

[polak]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Is it just standard practice to decline the help from other nations? I mean, if the fire is, as they say, going to take several months to extinguish why no add some additional planes?

Cause it's a lot more complicated than that.

A) There's no convenient, big bodies of water near the fire that are optimal for water bombers so adding more to the mix will just clog up airspace and complicate matters around the few bodies of water that they can use. Wouldn't surprise me if you ended up slowing things down, or at least wasting resources for not much of an impact.

B) If you accept help, you'll have to feed the pilots and give them some where to stay, supply fuel, store the planes somewhere, maintain them...etc.

The decision was made by people who know what they're doing. If they needed the help they would've accepted. They're probably at carrying capacity for the type of help being offered.

[Minnie]

From live broadcast with Premier Notley:

Premier Notley:

10% of Fort Mac lost in comparison to 30% in Slave Lake - approx 2400 structures saved including hospital and all functioning schools.

Citizens don't come back yet - you will only be turned away.

In an ocean of fire, the work of the first responders saved so much including 10s of 1000s of lives. (Darby Allen is a freaking hero <----- my opinion)

First convoy of rescued domestic pets arrived in Edmonton today

Please register with Red Cross if you haven't - just shy of 90K individuals registered so far - 25K that haven't indicated where you are domiciled right now, please go to website and update. If you've left where you were domiciled when you first registered, please go to website and update.

Still have a large, dangerous and growing wildfire around. 204K hectares in size.

700 firefighters on scene, 300 on the way

Suncor facility and Anzac good, aside from 12 structures lost in Anzac.

The firefighters, first responders and volunteers are heroes saving Fort Mac and all its citizens - thank you so much.


Mayor Melissa Blake:

Great appreciation for every helping hand all through province and beyond.

First Nations lost a lot. Thanks the Chiefs for how they've worked with all divisions in evacuation etc.

Infrastructure more or less intact, needs a little rejigging.

Can't have citizens home soon. Still too much danger from fire - smoldering, embers, wires down, etc.

1568 people dedicated to making Fort Mac livable again at the centre

Appreciates her municipal staff so much.

Hoping we can call this city home again soon.

Thanks everyone again.


Fire Chief Darby Allen:

Significant fire, unprecedented rate of spread, involvement of community, nothing else could have been done that wasn't done to protect people and structures.

Approx 2400 structures burned or partly burned. 12 structures burned in Anzac. Roughly 88K evacuated safely.

One school under construction in Parsons Creek had extensive damage but all other schools intact.

Thank you so much to all involved. I'm not a hero and this fire is nothing about me. This is about the 100s and 100s of people who came and supported us, the people who live here who supported us. The list is too large to name. Members of the public who listened and behaved themselves and got out of Dodge when told to. Do not associate the H (hero) word with my name.

1 firefighter from Fort Mac team fighting the fire. His team fought fire on his own home but lost it, but moved on to his neighbor's home and fought for another 32 hours before dropping from exhaustion.

Young 21 year old girl started with them 2 days before the fire and she just sat down and went to work, and still there 7 days later.

Dale Benibel (?) - Dale evacuated 452 people in 2 hours when they realized Anzac was on fire, with a flashlight and phone.

We appreciate the message of support, the offers of assistance and accomodating displaced citizens. Appreciate support from province and everyone else. Dedicating every resource to seeing you get home.

Alberta Wildfire rep, Chad Morrison (I think is his name?):

Fire has burned into forest away from city etc. Cooler weather helping. Mention size of fire again. Lists all the equipment being used. Holding the line on the fire right now.

Have had great success putting in dozer fire guard. 35 km/

10-15 km of dozer fire guard put in by Anzac/Gregoire

[Minnie]

Darby Allen again:

Never seen anything like this. Fire burned like nothing anyone's ever seen before. Rewrites the books on how fires have behaved in the past.

Minimum 2 weeks until citizens can return and that might be optimistic (explained better: Residents don't get to come back in 2 weeks...that's just when they will have a schedule of when people can come back #ymmfire #ymm)

Going to do thorough examination of instracture. Large areas of town without water, or power, or gas. Must insure infastructure is in place and it's safe for residents to return before allowing them back.

Believe they have knocked on every door. Not aware of anyone left in Mac that shouldn't be there.

Use Unified Command system, explains that (I can't keep up to the description)



Premier Notley again:

A number of First Nations communities surround Fort Mac. Some evacuated, some voluntary evacuation, Fort McKay mostly evacuated, Fort Chip taking in evacuees, will be flying in provisions to Fort Chip so people can stay there. All issues - food, provisions, temporary health care arrangements will be taken care of. Working with feds for resources? (damn kid interrupted couldn't hear).

Can't hear questions they're asking Notley.

They will map out re-entry.

Duly encouraged today to see extent of residential communities saved. Going to be some very heartbreaking images for people to see when they come back.

And.....I lost the feed.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Bootsy

Yes a ton of international help was offered , looks like we don't require it though.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2689492/tr..._campaign=2016

Originally Posted by BlackArcher101

Not only ridiculous, but infuriating as well. My facebook feed is full of the same type of comments today. Based on what I see, looks like peoples focus has changed from helping those in need, to laying false blame and using this for political running of the mouth.

Originally Posted by Canuck-Hater

Its insane. My facebook is littered with this nonsense as well.

I've been lucky. None of this crap, really. And if someone makes any similar comments, they will be gone. I dumped 3 people after the 2013 floods, for their ignorant and flippant remarks, people I had previously considered intelligent and my friends. No thanks if you're going to mock the people and the governments doing everything they can to avoid loss of life, etc. - you can fack right off.

[midniteowl]

I don't have these kinds of non-sense on my facebook page either, all the comments have been positive and helpful. From time to time, we might go back and forth on our political views, but when disasters hit, we are united. I guess I don't have a wide net of "friends" on facebook (thank god), so it has been clean from non-sense.

[Azure]

Considering how massive this fire was, the fact that only 10% of Fort Mac was lost is absolutely astounding.

[Aeneas]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

We have friends in Stockholm, they said the fire made the front page.

CP's own Calgaryboy was reporting on the fire every 15 minutes on his radio newscast in CZ.

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

I find it stunning that smokers continue to toss their butts out of the window with very little regard for the overall environmental impact their actions.

Really? Call me cynical but I don't find that stunning at all.

They're already disregarding the long-term health problems, the stench that permeates their clothes, house and car - why should throwing a lit butt out the window be any different?

[calgaryblood]

Anyone know how well the insurance companies are handling this? I hope they have enough staff and resources dedicated to their clients needs.

[Fuzz]

Nexen Long Lake Update:
_____________
Update - May 9, 2016 - 6:20PM
The safety and well-being of our employees remains our priority. Our attention is focused on ensuring they have the resources needed to get through this difficult time. In addition to the support Nexen is providing directly to employees and their families, Nexen and CNOOC Limited will be making a $100,000 donation to the Canadian Red Cross to support the ongoing emergency response efforts.

Nexen’s Long Lake facility remains shut down as a result of the forest fires. Nexen is in contact with the provincial emergency response team and has received reports on the fire situation, but until we gain access to our site, the status of our facility is still unknown at this time.
Nexen continues to monitor the situation closely.

[DirtyMike]

I'd be a little curious to know what the rest of the city looks like and when people will be able to move into their houses, given that 90% of the city remains. Maybe most of the damage was done to residential structures, hence why so many neighbourhoods seem to have burnt down but the pictures and videos that I've seen make it look like the entire city burnt down. To me it sorta feels a little like media is starting to sensationalize the damage.

I've also heard that even some homes that are still standing will have to have the dry wall and carpeting ripped out because of the smell. Pretty unfortunate that even if your home escaped visible damage, it may not be livable for some time.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by DirtyMike

I've also heard that even some homes that are still standing will have to have the dry wall and carpeting ripped out because of the smell. Pretty unfortunate that even if your home escaped visible damage, it may not be livable for some time.

Plus lots of the stuff that burned is sketchy - lots of potential toxic issues in cars and businesses. Ive heard they will be going house to house removing fridges and waste, all the water has to be flushed because the river has backed up into the water system after it was shut down, and of course lots of power to be restored.

It will be a long, long process.