Wildfires in Fort McMurray

[Galactic_Misfit]

Hey everyone,

so I'm sure by now you have most likely heard about the wildfires that are tearing through the northern portion of Alberta, Canada. The entire town of Fort McMurray (or Fort Mac to us Albertans), population 88 000 has been evacuated and nearby towns to the north and south, including the oil fields have been as well. Yesterday, we had our first human fatalities from the fire, when we lost the daughter and nephew of the deputy fire chief while they were evacuating the area. I am lucky to not have family that lives in the area (but do have an uncle who was working in the oil camp north of the town), but do know people from the town and have coworkers with family there.

Please keep these families in your prayers as this is one of the worst natural disasters in our nation's history. You can find out more here: http://globalnews.ca/tag/fort-mcmurray-wildfire/

[TimM]

What a horrible disaster that was. 

Hard to believe something like this could happen in 2016.

[Galactic_Misfit]

I'm just happy that there wasn't a greater loss of life. Firefighters are still in the area, but everything seems to be under control. Both my dad and uncle were supposed to be up at the Syncrude camp, but my dad was sent to the Philippines and my uncle returned to Calgary the day after the town began evacuations. Some of my friends and their families went back last week, and the remainder are going this weekend.

Canada is a resilient country, and the people are even more so. We're survivors and we'll pull through this, just like every other disaster we've had to face. I just hope we don't have another disaster like this again.

[TimM]

I agree.   Hopefully, nothing like this will happen again.