Almost 60, 000 people are displaced after a fire evacuation forced Fort McMurray residents to leave the city. There has been no reports of serious injury or fatalities but there has been damage to many properties.
According to the RM of Wood Buffalo, 80 per cent of homes have been lost to fire in the Beacon Hill area. There has also been serious loss in Waterways and Abasand. 12 trailer homes have been lost on McKinlay Cres. One house has been lost in each of Grayling Terrace, Downtown, and Thickwood. There has been two houses lost in Dickinsfield. They have not reported any damage in the Gregoire area or Saline Creek while the Draper area is still under assessment.
Grande Prairie Fire Department is ready to go help fight fires in Fort McMurray if requested. Fire Chief Dan Lemieux says they have been asked to be on stand-by.
“We have not deployed any resources yet. We have one engine ready to go. We have been asked to wait for the call from the government.”
He adds that many resources have been sent from Edmonton to help. The 9 largest cities in Alberta are in contact via conference call every couple of hours to keep up to date.
Grande Prairie RCMP say they will be sending officers to Fort McMurray to help. They say they are not able to release how many they will be sending but it will not impact the response in Grande Prairie.
The Fort McMurray evacuation is being called Alberta’s largest fire-related evacuation in history.
You can donate to the Red Cross to help evacuees at their website or you can text “REDCROSS” to 30333 to donate $5.