As of Sunday morning, the fire that wreaked havoc in Fort McMurray, Alberta had covered 390,000 acres—less than the 500,000 acres that experts had anticipated—a modification that was due largely to the change in weather.
Luckily, approximately 25,000 individuals were evacuated, with only two causalities due to a traffic accident. That was the good news.
Unfortunately, countless people have lost their homes, their livestock and their livelihoods. The gas has been turned off in the town, the power grid has been damaged and the water rendered undrinkable. Residents have moved into hotels or are being hosted by friends and family while the fire rages on, headed into a heavily forested area near the Saskatchewan border (unpopulated). These people must begin again, with no idea where, or when, they can start. It is a tragedy, and forces many of us to wonder why it happened. It seems so otherworldly to us safe in Southwestern Quebec—we complain about the cold and about the rain, but the idea of everything being burned to the ground seems impossible to us. But the fires of Alberta remind us that we are all at the mercy of Mother Nature—and that our homes and very lives are fragile, transient things.
Our thoughts are with those who escaped the fires that took Fort McMurray—we are sending you the strength to rebuild and begin again. Your loss has been monumental, and the sense of community that the province of Alberta has displayed is admirable. To those looking to help, consider sending to the Canadian Red Cross, where all donations are being matched by the Canadian government. Visit http://donate.redcross.ca.
