A provincial state of emergency was called Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the City of Fort McMurray was completely evacuated due to wildfire.
About 80,000 people were evacuated from the city, causing highways to be congested, and many surrounding communities in northeastern Alberta to put emergency plans into place, while accepting evacuees.
Shortly after the province declared the state of emergency, and exactly one week after hosting a mock emergency exercise, officials in St. Paul activated a reception centre at the St. Paul Rec. Centre at 5310 48th Ave, in response to the Fort McMurray fire.
Volunteers at the emergency reception centre were bracing for an influx of evacuees coming in from Lac La Biche.
At lunchtime on Tuesday, clear blue skies could be seen in Fort McMurray. Within an hour, things changed drastically, according to Rebecca and her sister Nadean Oszust. Soon, their sister Amanda was calling from work, north of the city, panicked and telling her sisters to get ready to leave since the area Amanda and Rebecca live in was under voluntary evacuation.
In just a few hours, the entire city would be under mandatory evacuation.
Rebecca and Nadean grabbed the few items they needed, along with a bag for Amanda, who was unable to get home from work and instead decided to head straight out of the city. The girls spent hours stuck in heavy traffic, sometimes with the fire burning a short distance from their vehicles.
On her way out of the city, Amanda says there were times she could feel the heat from the fire on the side of her body while she drove.
“You could see all Beacon Hill was a flame.”
The girls used the radio and kept in touch over social media and their cell phones while getting out of the city, with Amanda arriving at her mom’s home in St. Paul at about 8 p.m., and Rebecca and Nadean arriving at about midnight.
“You could see ashes falling from the sky,” recalls Rebecca, adding, it was surreal to watch buildings burning as they drove past.
Despite the sudden need for 80,000 people to leave a city with few routes available, the sisters said it was good to see how the majority of people remained calm. Police were effective in directing traffic, and people were helping each other.
“Everyone was helping everyone,” says Rebecca.
The girls have been able to touch base with most of their close friends. Some of those friends have likely lost their homes.
With the radio playing on the counter Wednesday morning, the girls fell silent as an update came on. Thickwood, the area where Amanda and Rebecca live, had seen some loss.
The girls admit they are unsure of how to feel about the situation, still slightly in shock from what happened. It was a weird feeling trying to pack, thinking you will be back, but realizing there might not be anything to come back to, says Rebecca.
“It didn’t feel real,” says Nadean, who had been up visiting her sisters when the evacuation occurred.
Now, the sisters, along with 80,000 other Albertans, are simply waiting it out, unsure of what the next few days will hold.
Locally, businesses have been showing an outpouring of support, offering discounts to evacuees and those affected by the fire. Local fire departments were on standby, and grocery stores were collecting food donations and hygiene supplies to be brought to those in need.
A barbecue was planned for Wednesday evening, with the aim of collecting donations for the Red Cross.
