The 2016 Fort McMurray Wild Fires photo set 1: "The Plane and The Beast" Taken on May 2nd 2016 at around 4-5pm in the Thickwood area 2: "Sunset Fire" Taken on May 2nd 2016 at around 8:30pm in the Downtown area 3: "Forest Bones" Taken sometime in June 2016 (after re-entry) on Tower Road 4: "The Aftermath" Taken sometime in June 2016 (after re-entry) in the Abasand area All photos were taken by David William Paturel (Dis & Dat Media) and all photos were taken with the Canon T2I This was a VERY hard month for everyone and thank you for everyone that helped us out during this time, I would have taken photos on May 3rd but I thought it would have been better to not risk the lives of myself and the people who were with me in my car.
Spring is a time of rebirth, new life, and the promise of warmer temperatures. Generally, people look forward to spring with joyous anticipation. This year, I find myself filling with a sense of dread as approaches.
You see, the cold and dead that comes with winter has been like a security blanket for me. The snowy blanket covering the earth has allowed me to slip into denial.
Last year, my city was the site of the largest and most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history.
(photo as we made the decision to leave- BEFORE evacuation orders were given for my area)
I was a part of one of the largest mass evacuations in our history. My community is surrounded by forest, no major city within 500km. With the forest and our long, hot northern summers, wildfires are a normal thing for us, but never, ever had it encroached upon the city before.
(the scene as we evacuated- i use someone else’s photo as I was too busy...you know...driving and keeping my kids focused/calm to take photos)
The cold of winter has provided protection from the potential wildfire threat. The snow has blanketed the burnt sections, and I can pretend the burnt trees merely do not have leaves because it’s winter.
(burnt forest section in the background. Just looks like normal winter)
Soon my denial will have to end. Soon spring will come, the snow will melt, and we will enter wildfire season.
To say I’m scared of it is an understatement. The fire coming into the city was my worst fear since I was a toddler (because like I said, wildfires are normal here), I lost my first home/where I spent my childhood/my wedding veil/my sense of safety and security on May 3rd and it will never come back. I was separated from my law enforcement husband for 2.5 months as me and our children were evacuated and he stayed to work the emergency...leaving him and not knowing if/when we will see him again. The trauma of leaving him behind still is affecting my family.
(our first time seeing my husband/their Daddy after the fire)
My very first memory in life is laying in an empty kiddy pool, my eyes closed, my body wet and cold from the slip and slide, feeling the warmth of the sun against me. Smiling. One of the parts that breaks my heart about this whole thing, is it appears my youngest child’s first long term memories are of the fire. Of evacuating and leaving his Daddy behind (as his Daddy stood across from the fire). It just breaks my heart that this will be the first thing he remembers in life. Kids are tough, and we have done everything in our power to help our children through this, but we cannot erase their memories. They are the reason I stayed so strong during the whole evacuation.
(photo of my children sleeping on sleeping bags in the walk in closet that was their bedroom during the first month of evacuation)
Another aspect is that I grew up among the trees. Barefoot wading in the ponds in the woods frog catching. Hiking and climbing in the forest. When i’m upset, stressed, or depressed it is my happy place. Where I can go to come back to centre. To find myself again. I am a wild child of the forest, and it is where my spirit is at peace.
(the forest where I spent the majority of my childhood)
I know fire is a normal part of the forest lifecycle. Please understand that to someone who was born and raised there it is traumatic. It is like I have lost my best friend. I need to grieve without hearing that my friend being burned was for the best.
(photo of a burnt section of forest)
(photo of what remained of the neighbourhood I spent my entire childhood in)
This year has been the roughest of my life. It has caused my weight to balloon. It has caused fibromyalgia flares (aka physical pain). It has caused emotional pain.
(photo from Jan/16 vs Jan/17. I am now 50 pounds up from the photo on the left, and 74 pounds over the healthy weight range weight my doctor would like to see me at).
As I sit here this morning, overweight, scared of spring, grieving over the lost friend...I just feel done. The fire, so dubbed “The BEAST”, has been holding a grip on my mind, body and soul since the afternoon of May 3rd. I’m just done. Screw you fire. I’m not letting you win. Put up your dukes “beast”, because I’ve hit rock bottom and I’ve nowhere else to go, so I’m about to kick your butt. I will not let the fire define me, or my life. The Fort McMurray I knew is gone, and I have to let that go. It’s a new normal now, and my life is a new normal. I need to decide what I want that new normal to look like.
"The Aftermath" Taken in June of 2016 (after re-entry) in the neighborhood of Abasand in Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada Taken by David William Paturel (Dis & Dat Media) with the Canon T2I This was a VERY hard month for everyone and thank you for everyone that helped us out during this time, I would have taken photos on May 3rd but I thought it would have been better to not risk the lives of myself and the people who were with me in my car. All rights of photo(s) reserved to Dis & Dat Media (David Paturel). #disanddatmedia #wildfire #ymm #ymmfire (at Fort mcmurray, alberta)
"Forest Bones" Taken in June of 2016 (after re-entry) on Tower Road in Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada Taken by David William Paturel (Dis & Dat Media) with the Canon T2I This was a VERY hard month for everyone and thank you for everyone that helped us out during this time, I would have taken photos on May 3rd but I thought it would have been better to not risk the lives of myself and the people who were with me in my car. All rights of photo(s) reserved to Dis & Dat Media (David Paturel). #wildfire #wildfires #ymm #ymmfire #ymmfires #ymm2016 #2016 #naturaldisaster #photography #riskyphotography #riskyphoto #smoke #holysmokes #mothernature #forceofnature #smokeythebear #onlyyoucanstopforestfires #forest #fire #forestfire #forestfires #thankyoueveryone #thankyouforhelping #aftermath #burnt #nothingleft #allgone #everythingisburnt #everythingisgone #disanddatmedia (at Fort mcmurray, alberta)
"Sunset Fire" Taken on May 2nd 2016 at around 8:30pm in the Downtown area of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada Taken by David William Paturel (Dis & Dat Media) with the Canon T2I This was a VERY hard month for everyone and thank you for everyone that helped us out during this time, I would have taken photos on May 3rd but I thought it would have been better to not risk the lives of myself and the people who were with me in my car. All rights of photo(s) reserved to Dis & Dat Media (David Paturel). #wildfire #wildfires #ymm #ymmfire #ymmfires #ymm2016 #2016 #naturaldisaster #photography #riskyphotography #riskyphoto #smoke #holysmokes #mothernature #forceofnature #smokeythebear #onlyyoucanstopforestfires #forest #fire #forestfire #forestfires #thankyoueveryone #thankyouforhelping #sunset #scary #horriblyawesome #horriblybeautiful #disanddatmedia (at Fort mcmurray, alberta)
Bug had a great time, loves the water. Didn't notice while at the lake but it looks like the #ymmfire hit the backside. 2 other kiddos had better things to do. #lake #floatingdock (at Gregoire Lake)
It has been a year but I can still remember the swirling emotion of that day. The aborted attempt to return home, the terrifying sight of trees “candletopping,” the sense of dismay as we realized that the way home was blocked and the anxious uncertainty as we headed north of the city searching for food, fuel and shelter.
It has been one year since Mark and I were trapped by the wildfire in Fort McMurray. Our attempt to head south out of that city was stymied by the incredibly aggressive wildfire and the RCMP who turned us back for our own safety. The city was being evacuated and we were forced to head north.
We were getting very low on fuel so we chose Fort McKay as our first destination, trusting that we would be able to refuel and find some sustenance. First we reported to the Band Office and registered. We were welcomed with open arms by caring and empathetic people whose concern for our wellbeing was genuine and generous.
Our first night was spent listening to every scrap of information regarding the fire and attempts to shift people south. We were able to partially refuel and the communal kitchen fed us. It was very late by the time we made our way to bed. We slept in makeshift beds in the community hall anxious that the fire may turn and force yet another evacuation. The community hall became our kitchen, dining room, bedroom, meeting area and social focal point. The children played outside or on the floor inside. Families arranged activities to keep them amused.
But it was the people of the community that worked together to feed and house us that made the biggest impression on me. They put forth a mighty effort to make sure we wanted for nothing, opening their elder’s facilities, arena and community hall and grounds to cover all the amenities required. They pulled long shifts in the kitchen, serving nutritious and tasty food all day long feeding the multitudes that descended on their village for succor. I am convinced that the community population swelled to more than double its size during the first days following the evacuation as wave after wave of evacuees were welcomed.
The members of that community pulled together and sported good humor throughout. Even in the ensuing days when the adventure becomes a never ending chore did they break character; they just continued to make us feel welcome and catered to our needs. They provided all they could and more, a sympathetic ear when needed, warm food and shelter and a place to wash away the smoke and ash – all provided with good humor and a smile. I am honored to have been exposed to such giving, caring and unselfish people and they will always occupy a soft spot in my heart.
When I read about AHS’ OneYearLater Fort McMurray Virtual Scrapbook my thoughts went immediately to the people of a partner organization I had the opportunity to work with – the University of Calgary Team. As AHS’ U of C Evacuee Health Centre was set-up on campus, the U of C team became AHS’ ‘friends of the time’ and together, much determination to ‘do right’ for evacuees and one another was demonstrated. Through our collaborative partnerships we were able to meet the primary health care needs of the evacuees we were privileged to help. Community Primary Health Care delivered by all.
Photos:
Resident Services staff at the University of Calgary work at the Dining Centre Friday afternoon to prepare for the first arrival of evacuees from Fort McMurray. Photo by Riley Brandt, U of C.
Residence Services frontline staff. Photo by Riley Brandt, U of C.
Many of the University of Calgary Residence Services staff members worked long days to support hundreds of displaced Fort McMurray residents staying on campus tempoeraliry until the evacuation order was lifted. Photo by Riley Brandt, U of C.
