The stories coming out of the Fort Mac and Edmonton area, continue to amaze me in how ordinary citizens to small and big business are stepping up to help the tens of thousands of people who were forced to hastily evacuate Fort Mac with very little in the way of personal affects when the fire unpredictably jumped the Athabasca river.

Retailers pitch in to help Fort McMurray wildfire evacuees

A week in Hell: How Fort McMurray burned

Excellent shares, Teslinhiker, thank you.

The Canadian Red Cross has raised some $67 million in private donations for Fort Mac evacuees over the last week.

So, these folks will soon be getting some direct cash for immediate needs from both the Province and the Red Cross. No doubt that will help a little.

What they really want most, of course, is to get back and check on their homes, and that's a waiting game.

A couple of articles I found interesting:


A scofflaw who defied the evacuation order and stayed behind:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/albe...rticle29986810/


Concerns about the toxic legacy of this type of fire:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/fo...6866/story.html

hikermor wrote:
>This is certainly a worthwhile contrast to the cliched "shoot and loot" scenario so often portrayed as the outcome of a disaster. >

This is a persistently recurring theme from disaster sites that don't know what they are talking about and just want an excuse to rambo around:

from wikipedia 'Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans':

Civil disturbances in post-Hurricane Katrina were consistent with all existing research on disaster sociology, which concludes that “[post-disaster] widespread looting [is] a myth”,[47] and were vastly overstated by the media, ultimately fueling a climate of suspicion and paranoia which greatly hampered rescue efforts and further worsened the conditions of the survivors....

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was characterized by extensive reporting of looting, violence, shooting against rescuers, murder and rape. While some criminal acts did occur, such as the emptying of an entire Walmart,[40] many reports were also exaggerated, inflated, or simply fabricated. Several news organizations went on to issue retractions.[41]

There were reports of snipers taking potshots at rescue helicopters; these were false. Reports of gangs roving the city shooting police officers and survivors were also false, as only one policeman was shot in the aftermath of Katrina and no indictments were brought forward against the supposed gang members.[42]

While looting was indeed widespread, many reported instances of "looting" were in fact stranded survivors scavenging necessary supplies such as food, water, clothing, and shelter.[43] Some instances of looting were later found out to have been carried out by a small number of NOPD officers.[44]
...

Some initial reports of mass chaos, particularly in stories about the Superdome, were later found to be exaggerated or rumor.[49] In the Superdome for example, the New Orleans sex crimes unit investigated every report of rape or atrocity and found only two verifiable incidents, both of sexual assault. The department head told reporters, "I think it was urban myth. Any time you put 25,000 people under one roof, with no running water, no electricity and no information, stories get told." Based on these reports, government officials expected hundreds of dead to be found in the Superdome, but instead found only 6 dead (of which there were 4 natural deaths, one drug overdose and one suicide).[39][50] In a case of reported sniper fire, the "sniper" turned out to be the relief valve of a gas tank popping every few minutes.[49]

Conversely, here's a humorous view of what some evacuees took with them.:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/08/fort-mcmurray-fire-packing-pictures_n_9863494.html

For anyone who's interested, here's a follow-up with some interesting side articles.

The fire has grown to some 1,600 square miles, pushed by low humidity and wind. Only rain can stop it now.

Fort Mac remains evacuated, except for first responders and experts who are trying to get essential services back online. The air quality index, usually measured 1-10 (with 10 being the worst) is at 38. Some 2,400 structures are believed to have been lost.

Oilsands installations north and west of Fort Mac remain shut down as workers were re-evacuated this week due to fire and smoke dangers. That's a production loss of some 1,000,000 barrels per day, a major financial hit to both the companies and the Province, which receives royalties.

A story on the experience of firefighters trying to save Fort Mac:
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada...e-fort-mcmurray
A fascinating quote from the story above: "Wildfire experts assess fires by the amount of power given off per metre of fire line. Above 4,000 kilowatts/metre, it is too dangerous for ground crews, Flannigan said. Above 10,000, air bombardment has little effect. “I’m guessing this will be probably around 100,000 kilowatts/metre,” he said. “It developed its own thunder storm. This happens during high-intensity fires. It generated lightning that started new fires. It’s the mother of new fires.”"

The heart-warming experience of the town of Lac La Biche, population 3,000, which opened its doors to some 8000-12,000 evacuees:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/albe...rticle30025617/

A story on what's called the "second disaster" -- the flood of ill-considered donations of stuff that isn't needed, but has to be dealt with somehow:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/nati...8527/story.html

And, here's the concentrated experience and hard lessons learned by the town of Slave Lake, Alberta, which suffered a catastrophic fire in similar circumstances in 2011. I think anyone interested in emergency management and disaster recovery will find this instructive and thoughtful.
http://www.nadc.gov.ab.ca/Docs/Wisdom-Gained.pdf

Thank you for the update and the references - good, solid stuff.

And now, with rotting garbage everywhere, add hungry bears to the mix, just to keep it interesting ...

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-ne...in-your-freezer

[img]https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files....=630&crop=1[/img]

Epilogue:

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-ne...after-15-months

Fort McMurray — After 458 days, the Horse River fire that destroyed thousands of homes and scattered tens of thousands of people across Canada is finally dead.

Even after the fire was declared under control on July 4, 2016, embers burned throughout the area during the fall. As the days grew colder, it burned underground and remained there throughout winter.

As spring approached, forestry workers began scanning the area for hot spots before they had a chance to burn again. The fire remained underground throughout the summer, Dania said, and did not flare up into a wildfire this year.

“The firefighters would dig down into an ash pit and extinguish where the heat was coming from,” she said. “They were scanning the area for heat from helicopters and keeping an eye on the area.”

The May 2016 wildfire destroyed 1,595 buildings, which includes 2,579 living spaces and 22 commercial spaces. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, it is the costliest disaster in Canadian history.