Fort McMurray

Dominion Link · Post by **Dominion Link** » Tue May 10, 2016 10:33 pm

I know that the Red Cross is the big name, go to, org for large disasters, but I can say from first hand experience on numerous occasions that the Salvation Army do great work on the ground. Just food for thought for those looking to donate.

As far as who's making what decisions, and what the reasoning is, I think I'll be giving an old friend a call. He's a big whig in disaster management who earned his chops initially in wild land fire fighting out west. I only see what the media provides, and I'm not an Incident Command expert, but a combined 31 yrs of volunteer fire fighter and nuclear emergency response has me questioning the decision to turn down additional manpower and equipment for a fire of this magnitude.

Dominion Link · Post by **Dominion Link** » Wed May 11, 2016 7:50 am

I haven't talked to my disaster management friend yet, but I did just open an email at work that suggests that the governments comments about not needing additional outside resources are not correct. I am on the emergency response team at Darlington Nuclear. I have received an email that was sent out by Bruce Power to their Bruce Nuclear staff. It is a request for trained fire fighters (volunteer and in house professionals) who are willing to go to Alberta. The email states that this comes after a meeting with energy partners in Alberta "following an urgent appeal by the Government of Canada". The email goes on to a number of logistical details....... If we don't need outside assistance according to our federal government, then why are they "urgently appealing" to the energy sector, across Canada, for fire fighter support??

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed May 11, 2016 8:25 am

I'm dismayed at how slow the response has been. The fire started May 1st. I can only imagine the hell it must be to fight a fire like that and it's a miracle that most of the town was saved, and I'm sure the hard work of the fire fighters that are there now. I keep reading that the fire will burn for months........ that doesn't sound like it's under control to me.
Like Katrina, it's just proof that when the

really hits the fan hard, we'd each better be ready to look after ourselves. I have a slap together emergency kit, but it could be better- but I'm going to do a better job of collating important stuff and buying one of those flood/fire proof boxes, and having some sort of better plan than hoping nothing bad will happen. I have three brooder lamps on upstairs- hopefully well secured and safe but they still make me very nervous.

kenya · Post by **kenya** » Wed May 11, 2016 2:46 pm

I saw some videos of the fire, and people having to move through it to get out, truly horrifying. You don't know how good you have it till you see a disaster like this. Some people had to leave their animals behind, truly sad.
I second the salvation army they do wonders.

ross · Post by **ross** » Wed May 11, 2016 3:33 pm

I always figure that I'm in charge of my own destiny not someone else & I stay prepared . . As for LARGE forest fires in these type of areas it's all about controlling & saving bldgs if can not mainly putting out that will come & the forest will be better for it .

siberienz · Post by **siberienz** » Wed May 11, 2016 9:22 pm

there is better news today....

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.3576976

hopefully they are getting ahead of it

Skinny rooster · Post by **Skinny rooster** » Wed May 11, 2016 11:04 pm

Prices at the pump are going up already, the excuses are because of the fire, but hold on a second, our gas here comes from the middle east, they just said the other day that they will continue to flood the market with cheap oil, it's the same gas that was in the tanks last week. Leave it up to greedy oil companies to cash in on the tragedy of others.

G Williams · Post by **G Williams** » Wed May 11, 2016 11:30 pm

Does any-one else here think that a city built in the middle of a forest should have an emergency preparedness program in place for forest fires (Municipally/Provincially) or well maintained fire breaks ? Once again the people have been failed by successive governments with a lack of foresight. Then again, those sort of things are not flashy as recreation or promoting the nanny state.

Post by **Killerbunny** » Thu May 12, 2016 6:23 am

When we lived on Vancouver Island we got small earthquakes frequently. They put in an emergency plan for "the big one" which involved driving along the Saanich peninsular to the ferry terminal to be evacuated! Really?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu May 12, 2016 8:23 am

Killerbunny wrote:QR_BBPOST When we lived on Vancouver Island we got small earthquakes frequently. They put in an emergency plan for "the big one" which involved driving along the Saanich peninsular to the ferry terminal to be evacuated! Really?

Did they have a plan B if the road was impassable?