Just got a hold of my Dad he was evacuated to Athabasca... Doesn't seem to know how bad it actually is there now that he's left said they had to register so should be able to track people down
Back in 2003ish I took Highway 2 from MacLennan to Athabasca. Going through the Slave Lake area was rather eerie, as they had just been through a major forest fire then as well. All the way down the highway was nothing but burned out stumps of trees. It was like driving through a dead zone, then suddenly, this bustling community on the edge of a massive, beautiful lake. Shame that most of that, it now seems, is gone. But given the town's location, I suspect this was inevitable. It is pretty much right in the middle of deep forest.
My old University roommate is a forest firefighter based out of Rocky Mountain..we were golfing on Saturday and his phone just started to go nuts. He was forced to drop everything and get back up there. He said that the crew leader he works with had never seen anything like this. Barriers, airdrops..nothing was holding this back.
Brutal for the people in Slave Lake, I have lots of friends and family in the Athabasca area and it sounds like the town is just completly filled up with people, tons of motorhomes down by the river, grocery store stayed open all night. Good to see communities coming together.
I am an engineer for a field near Slave Lake. This is truly a massive disaster. Everyone got out safe from what I've heard, but the devastation is mind boggling.
