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Slave Lake firefighters struggle to save town
CBC.ca
May 16, 2011
Provincial officials say 40 per cent of the town of Slave Lake, Alta., has been destroyed or damaged by wildfires which swept into the community with little warning Sunday night, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Most the destruction happened in the southwestern section of town, said Alberta Municipal Affairs spokesperson John Muir, where half the homes were consumed by flames.

The town's mall, town hall and many downtown businesses were all destroyed, though the hospital and the town's schools look to be safe, he said.

The fire is still considered out of control.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2011/05/16/slave-lake-fire-evacuation.html


The possibility the whole town could be destroyed is devastating.

   

I heard on local radio this morning that 1/3 of the town is gone including the high school, RCMP station and possibly the hospital. The smoke from these fire blanketed Grande Prairie yesterday, we're not that far away. Very scary in this area right now.

..... http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Artic ... ?e=3126050

   

Texas is having much the same problems.

   

It's amazing just how dry it is here in the Peace Country. We had a better than average snow load this year and it was so wet this spring that farmers were worried that they wouldn't be able to plant on time. Now all it's set to extreme fire hazards. They're warning people about avoiding any possible ignition sources as just about anything can start a grass fire now.

   

Seems so early in the year for this. I hope they can recover.

   

Title: Entire Town of Slave Lake Forced to Evacuate
Category: Misc CDN
Posted By: Canadian_Mind
Date: 2011-05-16 13:33:00
Canadian

   

According to people in the area over half the town has burned to the ground. Quite sad, was a beautiful place.

   

Damn.

   

Sad, I went there in 2005 and thought it was a great place to visit - especially Devonshire Beach.

   

UPDATE: The high School, RCMP Station and hospital didn't burn down, tho the hospital did receive some damage, it looked pretty good. Over 100 homes and many businesses were totally destroyed.

   

How devastating...

My heart goes out to those affected by this...

Wildfires are so deadly... we see our share in BC too... people I have known in the interior of BC have had close calls though have been fortunate enough...

   

Lots of Fire-fighters from B.C. helping out right now. More on the way from Ont. They are all really quite limited on what they can do as all across the province we have been experiencing winds up to 100kmh! Lesser Slave Lake is rolling with 4 ft waves. Even if the planes could go up, they can't scoop the water to drop on the fires. About all can be done is let the fire burn, Try to keep the human casualties down, and be ready with the equipment when conditions become more favorable. Maybe rain by Wednesday, and the winds are predicted to die down by tomorrow night.

   

Gosh Yogi...

You aren't too close to all of this are you?

   

One saving grace today, it rained overnight and is raining now again. The temperature is only supposed to get to 16 and not much for high winds today. This weather is supposed to hit Slave Lake this morning cooling everything off. Hopefully this will give the fire fighters the break they need to get the fires under control. The water bombers were sure flying hard yesterday. They must be landing here at the Grande Prairie airport for refueling cause I saw them all day flying in and right back out east.

   

A couple more news links about the fires.

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Artic ... ?e=3125994

http://www.dailyheraldtribune.com/Artic ... ?e=3125992

   

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