EMERGENCY OPERATIONS | A FIREFIGHTER'S JOURNAL

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The Widewater Fire Department (Hall #2 of the Lesser Slave Regional Fire Service) was actively involved in fighting the wildfires of May 2011. The following is an account of their activities during this time.

• Unit 8 (the Widewater fire truck) was dispatched to Assineau on Saturday to suppress a grass fire. The south of Slave Lake had started and was being monitored by SRD.
• Unit 8 was called to Hall #1 to assist with protection of properties along Bayer Road. We set up pumps, sprinklers and hose lines at each property there, fearing that the south fire would come that way.
• Every few minutes there was fire breaking out (grass fires, small brush fires, train trestle fire, etc.). It was very hot and windy and immediate action was needed to put them out. Every Hall #1 truck was committed to some fire around the area; when another fire was reported near the weigh scales, Unit 8 was called to respond. We battled fires all evening in the Mitsue area.
• Following the evacuation of some residents in the Mitsue area, Unit 8 returned to Hall #2 in Widewater around 2 am. The crew stopped to erect sprinklers on threatened buildings in the Wagner area; ironically, four of these same firefighters would be homeless within 12 hours.
• Unit 8 and crew returned to the Mitsue area at 7 am on Sunday. Some homes had been lost there, and we, along with Hall #1, Hall #3 (Smith) and Hall #4 (Flatbush) fought the fires there all morning and into the early afternoon. At one point, we were forced to retreat from a huge blaze that threatened our trucks and crew. We had to abandon some fire equipment…ultimately it was destroyed by the fire. As the fire overran our position, we were forced to retreat to the highway. Joining our unit were several water trucks whose assistance throughout the ordeal was extraordinary.
• We regrouped in Slave Lake where it became evident that the fire from Hwy 88 was rapidly approaching the town. Every available unit scrambled to defend the town. Unit 8 was tasked with laying out hose lines and setting up pumps in the creek along HWY 88, and then proceeding to the southeast part of town to help the other fire trucks action the fires there. There was so much smoke, wind, fire and flying debris that we could barely see or breathe. At one point, although we thought we were in a safe zone, everything in all directions was burning. Unit 8 was mostly engaged in action around the high school area. Other members of the Widewater Fire Department were assigned to other fire trucks, auctioning blazes all over town.
• After several hours, fire departments from the outside began to arrive. At this point, Unit 8 proceeded to Widewater to action fires there. The fire had crossed Hwy 2 into Widewater/Canyon Creek, and many homes were already destroyed. We arrived at the fire hall to discover it on fire. We couldn't save the building but did manage to toss out most of the spare fire hose and some other equipment before the roof collapsed. We protected the threatened exposures (houses north of the fire hall) and called for immediate assistance. A crew from Edmonton joined us. We patrolled the area for most of the night and extinguished many fires (decks, wood piles, garages, siding, roofs, sheds, vehicles, etc.) We worked until 5 am.
• We reconvened in Slave Lake at 7 am. We were exhausted but none of us could sleep. A lot of help arrived during the night so we set up a game plan that enabled the Widewater crew to continue to work in the Widewater/Canyon Creek area with the assistance of "strike teams" based in Slave Lake. Over the next few days we extinguished hundreds of hot spots.
• We commandeered our old Unit 8 fire truck out of retirement, fitted it with basic equipment, and fielded a crew comprised of some Widewater and some Slave Lake firefighters. With the additional truck, we were able to cover more territory and continued to seek out hot spots and trouble areas, calling in water trucks and strike teams as needed. Particularly hazardous were the burnt trees with smouldering root systems. Many fell across roads, a few nearly hitting our vehicles, and some fell on standing structures. We developed a system of tying flag tape to trees to identify hot spots for the bucketing helicopters.
• The main fire continued to burn south of Canyon Creek. We were dispatched to set up sprinklers and pumps west of Canyon Creek, along Assineau Road and Range Road 90. We deployed several miles of forestry hose and over 100 sprinklers.
• The entire region had been evacuated and it was very strange to meet only firefighters, RCMP and ATCO vehicles. We began to discover there were a great number of abandoned pets in the area…some in varying degrees of distress. We gave them water and sandwiches which kept them from suffering too much until Animal Rescue took over several days later. We also began encountering black bears. The combination of being disoriented by the forest fire and tantalized by the smell of food and garbage from hundreds of homes (power had been off for many days) had lured the bears into the community.
• We did our best to keep generators running for those people who had set them up prior to evacuation. Some homeowners needed generators to keep their sump pumps running to avoid flooded basements in the absence of power.
• In addition to the fire disaster, tragedy struck again when a helicopter crashed into the lake near Canyon Creek. Local firefighters from Widewater and Slave Lake were among those treated for hypothermia incurred during the rescue attempt.
• We continued the patrols and hot spot checks until the evacuation order was lifted. We were very pleased to offer assistance to those requiring help in removal of their fridges and freezers throughout the next few days.
• It was with mixed emotions that we witnessed the return of our community members. Some returned to intact homes with rotting food in fridges, and others returned to a big black hole in the ground. There were about 50 homes destroyed in the Southshore community alone.