Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The Fort Mac Wildfires, One Year Later

Often in times of emergency, we are very good with helping people deal with the immediate situation. But what about after the crisis has passed?

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By Melanie Sykes, Research & Training Specialist

A year ago, life changed for Fort McMurray residents. A forest fire started slowly and then burned out of control forcing residents to evacuate the city and destroying homes, businesses, and other parts of the city.

I happened to be in Alberta that week for some meetings and the Prairie Stewards Conference, and I happen to be back again this year on the anniversary. I am completely an outsider looking in.

From my outsider’s perspective, I saw a lot and learned even more. I saw so much emotion over those couple of days and the weeks after. From lows to highs. From fear to worry, and from sadness to joy over seeing a loved one or a friend.

I saw people break down and I saw some laughter as they tried to have some “normal” experiences and put the fires out of their minds. I saw deep concern and caring from so many people, from those who live in Fort Mac trying to help others not knowing the status of their own home to people across the country opening up their wallets, their homes, and their hearts to support their fellow Canadians. CLAC members showed their support for their fellow members with the CLAC4FortMac campaign.

Our Fort Mac staff showed tremendous resilience. They relocated with their families to various houses across Edmonton and worked temporarily in the CLAC Edmonton Member Centre. They reached out to all members from Fort Mac to see how they were doing and how we could help. And they continued to serve our members across the province of Alberta for a long time before being able to going home.

Often in times of emergency, we are very good with helping people deal with the immediate situation. We will reach out and help in any way we can for the crisis at hand.

But what about three months, six months, or even one year later? While we have moved on to the other events in our lives, the survivors of these situations are often still dealing with it on a daily basis.

I encourage you to reach out to anyone you may know in Fort Mac and see how they are doing. Ask them how the rebuilding is going. How are they doing personally? Do they need anything now?

If you don’t know anyone in Fort Mac, then reach out to someone else you know who has gone through a crisis or a difficult time. Even if it was months ago. There is no set or consistent timetable for people’s recovery time. If they don’t need any support or resources, they will still appreciate your thoughts and concern.

To our Fort Mac members, we recognize the devastation that happened to your homes, your city, your lives. We hope some healing has happened over the past year. And we will continue to support you through the coming times.

The Fort Mac Wildfires, One Year Later

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