Forest fire burns much of Slave Lake

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This article was published 17/05/2011 (5436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SLAVE LAKE, Alta. — What was once a neighbourhood of family homes is now an eerie moonscape of blackened cement foundations and charred automobile skeletons.

Manicured lawns have become black carpets of ash heaped with twisted corrugated metal and melted loops of vinyl siding. Hedges are nothing more than rows of burnt spikes.

On the empty streets of Slave Lake in northern Alberta, rescue officials were knocking on doors Monday to ensure everyone ordered out had gone and no one was left behind.

Fire crews were still fighting to smother a ravaging wildfire that was still out of control nearby.

“We’re homeless. We have no town. We have NO town,” Coreen Attilon said from an evacuation centre in Edmonton, 250 kilometres southeast of Slave Lake.

Attilon was among 7,000 residents ordered out Sunday around suppertime after forest fires whipped by 100-kilometre-an-hour winds jumped the protective highway and rained hot embers on rooftops.

Alberta cabinet minister Thomas Lukaszuk said it was the largest single-day displacement of people in the province’s history.

It was a fire that was as capricious as it was ferocious.

On one street, houses on one side were reduced to black hulks of collapsed timber. On the other, they were still immaculate, the lawns still emerald green.

Slave Lake Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee estimated one-third of the town was gone. The police station, hospital and school still stood, but the government centre and library were cinders.

Hundreds of residents were left wondering if their homes had been spared or levelled.

“It’s totally devastating,” Pillay-Kinnee phoned in to a briefing in Edmonton. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

There were no reports of deaths or injuries and none of about 30 hospital patients who had to be transferred to other facilities was harmed.

Alberta Municipal Affairs said 95 per cent of the town was empty and only essential or firefighting staff remained.

Reinforcements were on their way. British Columbia was sending 120 smoke-eaters and Ontario was shipping out another 80. Crews and equipment from Edmonton and Calgary were backing up local firefighters.

By Monday evening, the fire east of Slave Lake had consumed about 20 square kilometres while the blaze south of the community had burned 150 square kilometres.

Premier Ed Stelmach went to Slave Lake to survey the damage. He said he’d asked key government ministries and agencies to deal with the immediate needs of residents.

He pointed out waterlines need to be restored, along with power and other major infrastructure.

“This is the worst curve ball nature has thrown at us in recent memory,” said Stelmach.

“In all the years I’ve served in the legislature, this is by far the largest (natural disaster) that has affected so many people.”

The premier said the federal government had already provided cots and blankets for evacuees, as well as generators for health services trailers. He said he spoke to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who told him additional federal resources would be made available if needed.

 

— The Canadian Press