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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The very fires of hell

The city of Fort McMurray, in the northern Alberta oil patch, was caught in the path of a raging forest fire this week. Everyone in the city has been evacuated. Among the evacuees is my husband, Richard Schear, now staying with some hundred others in a workers' camp farther south. His car is still outside the trade show facility where he'd been in "Fort Mac" on a business trip, and we don't know if it has burned or not.
I am very grateful that he escaped safely, and proud that he volunteered to help register names of people displaced by the spreading fire. Then he and others were put on a city bus and sent south toward safety. While on the bus, he spent his time amusing babies, toddlers, and young children.
Yes, I'm proud of him, but I'm still miffed. I'm no longer angry, but miffed is a good word for how I felt when he refused to take my advice and leave a day earlier. Places to go, people to see, you know, can't stop because of a fire...but I was born, raised, and spent my entire working life in British Columbia, so I knew enough about forest fires to be afraid...to be very afraid.
In the Macleans news photo below (used here without permission), smoke and flames can be seen coming over the hill, heading toward the lightpoles of town. The people on these streets must have been very, very afraid.



6 comments:

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
Oh my word Kay... I saw over at Jenn's blog there had been fires but thinking it North enough not to affect you... but indirectly it has! So glad that RS is safe, though I can quite understand how frustrated you must feel that he 'overstayed'... as an Aussie-dweller, I totally get what such fires are about and one cannot be complacent. I really feel for all the displaced folks; here's praying for an early appeasement in Nature... YAM xx

Fun60 said...

Have seen the scenes on TV and it looks horrendous. So glad your husband escaped unscathed. Maybe he want be so complacent in the future.

Red said...

We all know somebody who was in McMurray and had to leave. good that your husband is safe. He may be in some danger when he gets home!!!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I've been keeping the news on all day - most terrifying were the lines of cars with flames right on either side of the road, and traffic was stopped because so many were backed up.....how extremely terrifying that must have been. It is truly miraculous that so far no one has died. This is the worst ever.........absolutely horrifying. The Fort Mac folk are very brave, everyone working as hard as they can to help each other. I am glad Richard got away safely.

jabblog said...

Pleased to know that Richard is safe - what a dreadful conflagration though and so sad for those desperately affected by it.

Powell River Books said...

Glad your husband is safe. The destruction of homes and facilities seems to be hit and miss. It was that way when we lived in California and had big fires in the foothills. A whole block could be gone, and one house was left standing. I feel terrible for all the loss people are experiencing. - Margy