Fort McMurray fire disaster!

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm sure you've all seen the pictures of the devastation this fire caused in Alberta's Oil Sands region and specifically the City of Fort McMurray. Thankfully the firefighters saved close to 90% of the town and not a single life was lost. The fire has moved on (away from the city), but there is still a lot of smoldering within city limits so residents (90,000 were evacuated) are not yet able to go home. Sadly, with some 2,400 homes lost, many will have nothing to come home to. Everything is being done by governments at all levels to provide temporary relief and to set the wheels of reconstruction in motion. Canadians, and indeed people from all over the world, have donated some $60 Million to the Canadian Red Cross, 95% of which will be directed to those in need. The Federal and Alberta governments have committed to matching those donations (personal, but not corporate) as well.

Alberta has had it's share of major disasters in the last decade, such as the Slave Lake fire ($1.3 BILLION) and the Calgary floods ($4.5 BILLION), and that is saying nothing about the decline in oil pricing, which amount to losses in the billions, the resultant shut down of oil facilities and job losses in the thousands. The recovery from structural damages, aid to evacuees, and the economy will be long.

Rather than closing this post with inserting images of the devastation, I thought I would end it on a more positive and thankful note:

[Ki Choi]

I feel for our neighbors up north.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Thank you Ki!

[mep]

Been watching it on the news John. I hope those 2,400 homeowners had insurance. It will be interesting to see how the Red Cross will spend the $60M in donations they received.

[rockitman]

Tragedy. I suspect most Homeowner's have fire insurance coverage. That said....insurance can never make you whole after a complete loss.

[Johnny Vinyl]

So true Christian!

[mep]

Tragedy. I suspect most Homeowner's have fire insurance coverage. That said....insurance can never make you whole after a complete loss.

True, and they will stick in your hole if they can. They love to collect premiums and hate to pay claims.

[MylesBAstor]

The Fort McMurray fire has been on the news every night in NY. Tragic and they were saying will probably be one of the most expensive fires in history when all is said and done. I know it's easy to say when you haven't lost anything that possessions are replaceable but at least there wasn't as you said, any loss of life.

[Garth]

It is on the news in a lot of places I had Emails from China asking if the fire was near me which it is not even close. But it was being talked about in China the world is a smaller place all the time.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Luckily we've only heard of a few people that did not have insurance, but some of their loss will be covered by the Federal Emergency Disaster Relief Fund...I don't know to what degree however. Insurance companies are on the ground at all of the evacuation centres and cutting cheques to help with some immediate needs. It is projected that this will cost the Insurance industry upward of $9 BILLION. There are no numbers yet on the total cost of this disaster for the Provincial/Federal Government.

The Provincial government issued debit cards to all evacuees yesterday. $1,250 for each adult and $500 per child.

The Red Cross direct deposited $50 MILLION yesterday. $600 for adults plus $300 per child under 18. Donations are still coming in and are now at $67 MILLION with more expected.

It is expected that 80% of evacuees will have received these funds by the end of today, which is absolutely astounding considering the scope of this tragedy.

I'll keep you posted.

[cpp]

Our prayers go out to all of those that lost their homes and worldly possessions . Mother Nature has a way of changing how we look on what's important in our lives, family and good friends.

[Johnny Vinyl]

A quick update:

On June 1 the Provincial Government started to let some residents back into their homes. This is expected to take a few weeks, but at least the process has begun. The Canadian Red Cross has received $125 Million in donations, and with both Prov/Fed governments matching private donations they will have close to, if not more, than $200 Million in available assistance for residents.

The fire itself has moved on, but is still actively burning. There are still over 1,000 firefighters dealing with this blaze.

[allenh]

Johnny, $200M sounds like a lot but probably isn't. How many families/people have been impacted by this fire?

[cpp]

The fire destroyed 2,400 structures, nearly 10 per cent of the city, when it ripped through in May and forced more than 80,000 residents to flee.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/the-fort-mcmurray-disaster-read-the-latest-weekend/article29930041/

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/weather-factoring-into-fort-mcmurray-wildfire/67484

[Johnny Vinyl]

80,000 plus another 10,000 from outlaying communities.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Johnny, $200M sounds like a lot but probably isn't. How many families/people have been impacted by this fire?

The $200 Million is just from personal and government-matching contributions to help with immediate needs. Both Prov & Fed governments are footing billions more. The total tally is going to be stagggering. It'll be at least 10 BILLION.

[allenh]

Wishing the families all the best as the repair their lives after this disaster...

[Johnny Vinyl]

UPDATE:

The Canadian Red Cross ended up with $300+ Million in donations and Prov/Fed contributions. Money is still being donated from all over the world. Amazing!
Life is slowly returning back to normal in Ft.McMurray and the surrounding communities, and I'm pleased to say that the vast majority of homeowners had proper insurance. Still, the Prov/Fed tab will be in excess of $5 Billion. Construction is well under way and will add thousands of jobs, which the Province really needs. Because of the low price of oil and reduced production it caused some 20,000 layoffs. Alberta now has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

[Bill Hart]

Scary shit. I don't know if you read about the disaster during the WWI era in Halifax- a ship laden with ammo lost control, smashed into the dock, exploded, the whole town was destroyed, and then a blizzard hit. It was awful. Apparently, a doctor at Harvard (I think) organized a relief effort, and I'm pretty sure that was the beginning of the Red Cross. I believe there is a ceremonial exchange of Xmas trees every year in honor of the relief effort.

[Johnny Vinyl]

We're all familiar with that tragedy for sure, but I didn't know about the Red Cross history. I'll have to look that up. Thanks for that!

[Bill Hart]

I checked: The Red Cross didn't start there, but it definitely involved Harvard Medical School and helped the learning on disaster relief on the medical side. There was a good book about it that i read a few years ago.