As thousands streamed south from Fort McMurray to find shelter from the firestorm that devastated their community, others raced north to offer their help and bring supplies. Jay Woolner was one of those people.
As thousands streamed south from Fort McMurray to find shelter from the firestorm that devastated their community, others raced north to offer their help and bring supplies.
Jay Woolner was one of those people. An Edmonton truck driver, he and his wife were moved to tears as they followed early media reports about the evacuation of Fort McMurray as a forest fire ripped through the northern oilsands community.
“We were watching it and just bawling our eyes out for these poor people forced to leave their homes,” he told the POST last week as he prepared to leave Edmonton with his second load of supplies for the fire victims staying at evacuation centres in Lac La Biche and the surrounding area.
Woolner wasn’ t alone in his mission. He led small convoys of vehicles piloted by friends and stockpiled with supplies for the fire victims. Although he has no direct connection to the Fort McMurray area or Lac La Biche, he said his link to the situation is more general.
“I’ m just an Albertan. I’ m human and you can’ t watch what’ s happening and not do something,” he said, adding that some people might make a donation to the Red Cross while others will pack up and drive through the night to deliver the goods. “It’ s what we do for others that counts.”
Woolner and a convoy of pickup trucks and cars arrived at the Lac La Biche Bold Center evacuation centre just after midnight Thursday. They had a stockpile of supplies from food and water to baby necessities, toiletries, dry goods and anything else they could fit into every available corner of their vehicles.
Not knowing what to expect, and following the roughly painted direction signs to the Bold Center, Woolner said his group drove into a maze of vehicles and activity, even at the late hour of the day.
“There were thousands of cars and vehicles, buses, trucks around the building, it was crazy,” he said. “I’ ve never seen anything like it. It looked busy.”
But as they pulled their vehicles to the front doors, their nerves were settled by the smiling faces of two young ladies who came out to greet them.
“These two girls come out, two young volunteers and they’ re smiling. Big smiles. It’ s midnight, the whole world seems to be falling apart, it’ s crazy busy, and these two girls-all of 19 years old -are smiling and friendly, and they jumped right in and started helping us offload,” he said. “It was surreal. It was great. I wish I could get my own kids to work that hard on a normal day.”
But the surprises didn’ t end there. Woolner and his group came inside the facility, which at the time had taken more than 1600 evacuee registrations and was set up to house 300 people in Red Cross cots, and was greeted by more smiling volunteers.
“In what was chaos, there were smiles. We had cat food, so we went upstairs to the animal room ... more smiles,” he said, adding that the most unexpected reaction was from some of the evacuees themselves. “I expected people to be sitting on the floor crying, but even the evacuees were smiling. They were worried and tired, but spirits seemed to be OK.”
The drive back to Edmonton was a quiet one, he said, and he and his wife processed the night. The next day after his work shift, they were back on the road and heading again to the Bold Center with more supplies. Contacting the POST during a pitstop at the Fort Saskatchewan Royal Canadian Legion to pick up more donated supplies, he asked if other areas could use supplies. He’ d been monitoring the POST’ s Facebook page and asked about the Boyle evacuation area.
He and his wife decided to take their supplies into Boyle.
“I’ ve heard they’ re receiving a truckload, but they aren’ t too sure when it will get there. We’ re going to head over that way and help them out,” he said.
At the Boyle Community Centre, a rough, hand-written list of supplies was hanging on a door. Evacuation centre staff in Boyle say the number of fire victims fluctuates ... but so do their supplies. The list of needed items was forwarded to the POST and is on the newspaper’ s Facebook page.
The Woolner group was among hundreds of others driving through the region in the first days of the evacuation.
Billie Hillier runs drywall and insulation businesses in Edmonton. She has some connections to Fort McMurray and knew she had to do something to help the displaced residents. Her husband was a construction worker who traveled to Fort McMurray from their Gibbons-area home during the mid 1990s as industrial development continued to ramp up. She also has friends in the area.
“I have a connection to that area, but I’ d help if I didn’ t,” she said, explaining that volunteering and helping is something she has to do. “I’ ve volunteered in Gibbons with the fire department and I’ m used to volunteering.”
She can now add fundraising to her resume as she loaded $2000 worth of gift cards along with baby supplies and dry goods into a 15-passenger van on Thursday night heading for Lac La Biche.
“I challenged drywall companies to raise some money for the fire victims,” she told the POST as her sons prepared to make the drive to Lac La Biche. “We got $1000 in Walmart gift cards in twenty-five dollar ones, and the same from Superstore.”
Her companies, Abba96Inc and Residential Insulation Specialists, along with Edmonton-based Adeer Drywall and Crystal Drywall, took just a few hours to drum up the donation.
“It’ s what we can do. We have to help,” said Hillier, who knows that a few groceries or bottles of water can’ t bring back the homes and memories to those who fled the flames. “I can’ t imagine what they are going through, but there are lots of people who care about them.”
As of Friday morning, Lac La Biche County officials were saying more than 3,600 evacuees had registered at the Bold Center. Many stopped to have a hot meal, a hot shower, and to pick up water, snacks and other necessities before moving on. Over 700 found refuge in local homes, hotels and camps. There are also 350 staying in cots at the Bold Center, where three meals a day are being served.
According to Shannon Greer, a spokesperson with Alberta Municipal Affairs and the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, there is currently no real timeline for how long the evacuation will take place.
“Right now the fire is still so fluid and it is hard to determine a timeline,” she said, explaining that the immediate focus is the safe evacuation of all people from the areas directly affected by the fire.
On Friday afternoon, an estimated 30,000 people who fled north of Fort McMurray to evacuation camps when the evacuation was ordered, were escorted in vehicle convoys south towards Edmonton.
While the fire is dictating much of the future planning, the Alberta government has authorized the immediate release of financial assistance to all fire victims who have registered in evacuation centres or directly with the Red Cross.
“This morning, Caucus authorized the Emergency Financial Assistance to 80,000 people,” Greer said.
The funds, $1,250 for each adult and $500 to each dependent, are expected to be delivered by next Wednesday.
The government assistance is the latest help that the fire victims will receive. From Lac La Biche, Mayor Omer Moghrabi said the outpouring of support from his community and around the country has been overwhelming.
"People have reacted tremendously. It's a great community...but you know what? You'll see this all over in Canada. You'll see it down south. People come together. In the toughest times is when we help each other,” said Moghrabi.
While the help from others has been a bright spot, Alberta government officials are still reminding the public that the situation is very serious. Until the flames are controlled, Greer said, safety continues to be the most important thing.
“We want to really be sure that people realize that the city of Fort McMurray is not safe to return to at this time,” she said. “Once the fire is away from the city, only then can we start to inspect the damage and get a better idea of when it will be possible for residents to return."
With files from Alex Fuller.
