'Fires are not selective': Former Wood Buffalo mayor recalls wildfire devastation

As Jasperites return home, the pain and recovery work could take years. Former Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Mayor Melissa Blake joined CTV Morning Live’s Nicole Lampa. She shared the memories of being Mayor in 2016 when Fort McMurray was devastated by flames.

 

Nicole Lampa: As Jasperites return home, they'll face sites that are shocking, maybe even traumatizing. That pain and the recovery work will take months and years. From someone who understands what the community is going through, what can people arriving home expect today?

Melissa Blake: I think there are two camps of thought. You've got the excitement and anticipation of being able to get back into your home, but you're going to see what's happened in the neighbourhoods, and you're going to feel apprehensive, disappointed and heartbroken for people that are there. I think in some cases, survivors' guilt will weigh on people. We got it and our neighbours don't. People have to reconcile some of that as they navigate through today and the coming years.

Nicole: The return to Fort McMurray in 2016 was an emotional one. What do you remember about that day?

Melissa: First, people had been gone for over a month and they were coming back. We had a lot of warnings about being prepared for things you would need, like your groceries. We ensured that all the safety measures were in place as they could be. But it was the folks with the damaged homes that were desperate to reclaim any momentos that were there, and that was the most unsafe and untenable situation. So for us, the ghost town effect was certainly there. There was a slower return or staged re-entry, and you have to take so long to absorb what you're seeing and try to make sense of it because fires are not selective. They will take one and not the other. They'll leave plastic toys on the lawn and burn cars down in front. It's a very unusual, eerie kind of feeling coming back on that day.

Nicole: What will this process of recovery look like?

Melissa: I think it's going to be difficult for the first month. People are going to be going to their insurance companies, some probably already have, and trying to navigate through those processes and doing what they need to do. You're probably going to find a lot of companies who have experience in this area that want to come in and be supportive and charge you for it. The problem is, if you have a lot of damage, everybody's competing for those same services. I think the journey ahead is going to be very individualized. Some will be thrilled to be home. Some will be devastated, and the emotional journey that people are going to go through is one that they're going to have to call on for. In our case, we had the Red Cross and some very skilled individuals and capabilities within to help people navigate, but it takes time.

Nicole: Those emotions will be high today, but it doesn't end there. Talk about the emotional journey in the coming months.

Melissa: For us, the anniversary date was a really difficult one to decide whether we're going to acknowledge, ignore, or what we would do with it. But what I discovered is, one year out, that date lives in memory. On that date, the first year, we really wanted to try and bring the community together in a positive going forward way. I was absolutely surprised to see as many people who had come out to do just that. People who had lost their homes or in the process of rebuilding, people who were just there because they cared. It was really heartening to see the community standing so strong together.