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I haven’t written a post for a while. I was planning to share photos from my latest trip to England and share an update on my work in progress, but all that has gone by the wayside in the wake of the Fort McMurray Fire. The wildfire that firefighters are now calling the Beast is, as of today, 2000 square kilometers – that’s 772 square miles. To put that in perspective New York’s five boroughs covers approximately 304 square miles, and Greater London extends to 607 square miles. (The New York Times, Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia provided those measurements.)  To give you an idea of how hard it is for first responders. Fort McMurray is an isolated city carved out of the northern forest. There is one highway, highway 63, which links it to the rest of the world. Beyond that it is surrounded by wilderness, which is fuel for the Beast. I am not a resident of Fort McMurray. I live near Edmonton, Alberta and although me, and my family are not in any danger, over 80,000 people have been evacuated from the city. Photos from the fire-ravaged city show a devastation that is hard to comprehend outside a war zone.    For most of the week my hubby was on the other side of that fire. He works in one of the mines north of the city. And although he was not in any immediate danger from the fire, with the highway closed he was cut off from the rest of civilization and all that goes with it – food, and clean water being at the top of the list.
He is home now safe and sound, and we know that we are luckier that most. My heart goes out to all those effected by this catastrophe. There are displaced people all over Alberta who are trying to keep their lives together despite the fact that they have lost everything. If you want to help please give to the Red Cross. Comments are closed.
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