Residents in Slave Lake are taking part in a conference aimed at re-building a sense of community, just days ahead of the one year anniversary of the devastating wildfires that destroyed the town.
"It's to rebuild our community," said Wellness Conference chair Janet Ross.
"This is hopefully to pull people around as a committee, as a group, and just to build our resiliency that we can survive."
The conference is put on by a group called Building a Resilient Community.
The group has been bringing in speakers each month since the disaster to talk to residents about mental and physical wellness.
The three-day conference which ends Saturday is a culmination of the group's efforts to help residents cope with the aftermath of the fire and come out stronger.
On May 14, a 4,700-hectare fire began that swept into Slave Lake, engulfing about one-third of the community and forcing 7,000 Slave Lake and area residents to flee their homes.
Since then residents have been slowly rebuilding the town.
A number of activities are being held in Slave Lake to mark the anniversary and celebrate rebuilding efforts that have been achieved throughout the year.
A CTV half-hour special "Wildfire: Heroes of Slave Lake" will air Sunday on CTV Edmonton and Calgary at 6:30 p.m. It chronicles the efforts of the brave men and women who stayed behind to help evacuate residents, battle the flames and defend their town, told exclusively through the words of those directly involved.
