The Fort McMurray Wildfire: Part 1: My story
A pivotal moment for me and an indication of where our world was heading..
Today on May 3, 2024, I remember and reminisce about what took place on May 3, 2016. As you read from the title, a wildfire took place in the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, where i lived at the time. It has been known for being the biggest natural disaster to hit Canada at the time, and the costliest with damages from the fire reported to be 9.9 billion Canadian dollars. Just like how everyone who had a working memory can tell you where they were when 9/11 happened, so can people who experienced the wildfire, including yours truly.
While were two years away from the ten year anniversary of the fire, I thought I would share my own story of what happened that day with a second part on my reflections on it.
(Stay tuned for some questions that I have for you guys at the end!)
In the Morning
Like any other 15/16 year old, I woke up like any other morning preparing for school watching the TV, first watching whatever tv shows were playing, then turned to the news seeing what’s going on around the world (apparently Ted Cruz suspended his presidential bid that day as well). My mom was hurrying me and my little brother up to get ready as usual, that day she had to go to work and it happened to be around the same time we had school. My dad at the time was already at work as he was working at his job in the oil industry which was hundreds of kilometers ( or miles) away from us.
As me and my brother arrived to school, I noticed that this morning was hotter than usual, in fact prior to leaving I checked that the temperature was expected to be +31 degrees celsius (farenheit people you can do their own conversion on that), for early May that was unusual for a place like Fort McMurray, which is located all the way in Northern Alberta. I remember having English class as the first thing to do, and I had to read the infamous Huckleberry Finn book, for which at the time I had only finished the first chapter.
Luckily English class was cut short for me and a few of my other friends as we headed to my old elementary school to play a concert there for our band class. Our band teacher told us to walk there as my elementary school is of walking distance from my high school. Even walking there at around late morning, you can still feel the heat beating down on you, that wearing a zip up sweater was inconvenient. As we arrived at the school, we got everything prepared and set up, I viewed into the sea of elementary schoolers, I saw some of my former teachers who taught me when I was there. Many of them having such a positive impact on me, I really wanted to wave at them, but our band teacher told us not to wave as it was unprofessional. I was planning to go say hi to them after school. If i could go back in time, I’d probably just ignore my band teachers request.
In the Afternoon
After we were done playing, we started packing up all the equipment and our instruments into a truck. I got to see my former gym teacher at the time, who I was surprised still recognized me. Then I heard a familiar voice in a friendly Atlantic Canadian accent say “How’s it going Fahim?”, it was my former teacher and the then principal of the school, I replied back that I was doing very well. He did a lot for me in terms of helping me and giving me good advice and making me feel welcomed (also one of the reasons I’m a Leafs fan, for which coincidentally many of my favourite teachers were also Leafs fans).
Heading back, the heat grew in its beating intensity many of us were not in a good mood, although I was trying to crack jokes with some friends but they were not in the mood for that. The air conditioning of the school was a relief for many of us, After eating lunch I headed to my math classroom, to practice for my quiz. I then noticed a smoky smell, I asked my math teacher if she could smell something and she did.
I then left for Gym class, where for the first time we got class outside, so we started playing softball, or at least practicing how to pitch one. By then at mid afternoon, the heat was getting so bad, I don’t know if we had the energy to pitch. Our gym teacher (another friendly Atlantic Canadian) told us to get inside, we then all turned around to see big cloud of smoke rising up some buildings it was happening west of where we were (for reference it was similar to the view seen in the photo above. We looked at it in astonishment, I then cracked a joke, which was funny, but my friend me, that it was not the best time to be joking right now.
As I headed to math class, the panic over the fire was growing, as arrived in Math class, while most people were getting prepared for the quiz. There was many of us who were looking through the window seeing the plumes of smoke grow and grow. Our math teacher shooed us away from the window and told us to get seated. The vice principal came on the microphone and told us that a wildfire had broken out and that we should remain calm and that they would let us go when they said otherwise.
So we did our quiz, I was not to focused on the quiz as I was worried about my mom, dad, and little brother. I think that it was the same for everybody as we handed our quizzes around the same time. Everyone was calling or texting their parents or someone they know to pick them up. I tried to get in touch with my mom and while I was kind of successful the first time, the phone lines were to overloaded. I then called my dad and it was the same thing.
I then asked my math teacher if I could use the school landline to call my parents, after many unsuccessful attempts which also included voicemails expressing my uncertainty, I did get in contact with someone, which was my dad’s coworker, I asked him if he knew where my dad is. He told me he was not at the office right now and that he was probably leaving either to see us. My English teacher then entered the room telling me not to worry and that the phone lines were down and suggested that I head to the office to get help.
The ladies at the office reiterated the same thing as my English teacher. So that’s what I did. Before I left, I turned to see that the hallway was blocked by teachers, indicating that I could not go back to get anything (my suit that I wore for the concert was in my locker at the time). As we left school, my brother observed that one part of the sky was armageddon, while the other had few white clouds and were blue (the world works in mysterious ways huh?)
As we were close to home, my uncle and aunt arrived in their car and picked us up. After a few seconds we arrived at home, with my mom telling us to get everything packed up so we did. Majority of what we packed were cloths and electronics, along with food and water. One of the things that caught my eye when my mom was packing was that she packed our photo albums, the photos ranged from my parents getting married to mine and my little brothers baby photos. Never knew how important those photos were until then. I tried calling my dads phone several times and he still didn’t pick up making me really nervous about how he was doing, my mom calmed me down telling me that he will be alright.
We watched the news for any updates regarding advisories and warnings and by late afternoon, the advisory was sent for everyone to evacuate the whole city. So we loaded up everything into our car. My mom turned on the sprinklers before we went to make sure the ground was wet. My uncle drove the family car as I hadn’t had my licence at the time. The car luckily had a full tank of gas, apparently my dad had fuelled the car a few days prior before he left for work and we drove off not knowing if we would see our house intact.
In the Evening:
Any road that was heading out of the city was clogged with traffic. As my uncle figured out when he took a u turn from one road and then headed to another one he found cars packed in like sardines. Emotions were running high. My mom noticed a man who was smoking a cigarette in his car and was angry at him for it given the situation that we were in. As traffic started to trickle south of the road called Confederation Way, news was coming in that evacuating north of the city was a no go, as the fire blocked the roads heading north. The only way out of the city was the only highway out of it, which was Highway 63.
As we headed into downtown Fort McMurray, the fire was near the roads. As we drove by one, I could feel the intense heat being given off from it. The destruction of the fire became evident when I saw the motel called super 8, being burnt to a crisp. I turned on the radio for the latest news on the fire, you heard calls from people ranging from fear to crying, one of them being a man who told his family he loved them and he burst into tears.
My mom gave me and my little brother some crackers and made some sandwiches along with a banana so we didn’t get hungry. I noticed that there was city buses that were also being used for evacuations as well, while some cars and buses were lying in between the grassy middle part of the roads, either their gas probably ran out or the engine stopped working. I would stare off into the window at times thinking about everyone from my teachers and friends thinking if they would be alright and if I would ever see them again.
In the Night
As the sun went down, the highway leaving Fort McMurray was still packed, which usually at this time would not be the case. As the cars continued to trickle you notice a few small things here and there. You notice the impatient Dodge Ram drivers who make another lane for themselves by driving on the grass, you notice in a minivan, that the kids watching Spongebob Squarepants via the screen (lucky rugrats), and you notice the generosity of good people as one man hands out water bottles for anyone who needs it despite the tough circumstances.
I tried to calm myself down by flicking through the radio stations for anything that could take your mind away from what’s going on. One of those stations that played was a rural radio station that was playing pop music, the two songs that were playing were, work from home by Fifth Harmony and I took a pill in Ibiza by Mike Posner (Not appropriate for the situation, but definitely took my mind off of the situation, plus those songs are catchy).
A few hours later we made it to a hamlet called Grassland, considered to be the middle point between Fort McMurray and Edmonton. We stopped at a gas station where in normal times it would be pretty chill, was now the equivalent of being at a small store in the mall during boxing day. I immediately left the gas station and went back into the car reclining my chair and sleeping.
The morning after
As I woke up, I saw the beauty of the morning sky, it was a mix of light blue with the addition of light pink. Almost as if I was in a dreamland of some sort. As we arrived into Edmonton, I was still dazed, noticing just the Rexall Place, (the former home of the Edmonton Oilers, who played their last game there a few weeks ago). I then had to help my uncle out with directions to our house in Edmonton. We then arrived, I saw my dad waiting for us and as we arrived, I thought to myself “what a relief, and I need a shower real bad. I then went to sleep, again thinking about my friends and teachers.
(End of Part 1, Part 2 coming soon)
A few questions to you Guys…
Have you ever experienced a Natural Disaster and how did you cope with dealing with such event?
Do you think it is unprofessional even in band to even just talk to former teachers or even wave at them?
Have you guys read Huckleberry Finn, how did you find the book, and is it a racist book as I have heard some people describe it as? If there is a classic book that 15 year old me should’ve picked which one would you suggest?
Wow what an experience. I remember sitting safely in my kitchen in Ontario watching the news about that horrific fire bs being thankful I was in my kitchen in Ontario.