"All I could see was devastation"
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- Published on Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Photo courtesy of Blair Ferguson
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner
Blair Ferguson could see the flames and smoke in the distance, when his hotel in Fort McMurray, Alberta was temporarily evacuated on Sunday, May 1. He, along with everyone else, kept a close eye on the path of the fire and the prevailing wind, still optimistic that the worst of it would miss the city. But by Tuesday, May 3, that optimism gave way to the grim reality of just how serious the situation was about to get for him and the community of nearly 80,000 people
Ferguson, a Neepawa resident, has worked in the Fort McMurray region for a decade and in that time, it has become his second home. Being so familiar with the area and its people, Ferguson said very early on, you could sense the tension blanketing the city as everyone waited to see how the situation would play out
鈥淲here I stay, it鈥檚 a suburban area called Gregoire, [located in the southeast portion of the city]. We were evacuated from the area the first time on the Sunday night [May 1], because the fire was about 1.5 kilometres southeast of town. We were only evacuated for maybe four hours, and everyone was worried about which way the fire would go. If the wind shifted, it could have been an issue,鈥� said Ferguson. 鈥淭hen on Monday [May 2], everything was normal. The talk around town at that time was that they were all relieved that it seemed to be moving away. But then, the temperature went up, the humidity dropped and the wind changed and on the Monday night, the fire had gone from 850 hectares to, I believe, 8,500 hectares. So, as soon as that wind changed on Tuesday and the size of the fire was that much bigger, that sense of relief just disappeared and everyone began to fear the worst.鈥�
Photo by Eoin Devereux
The evacuation order arrives
Over the next few days, Ferguson would watch the situation unfold from just outside the fire range, about 20 kilometres north of the city. From that vantage point however, he was still close enough to be affected by the uncertainty.
鈥淚 went into work on Tuesday morning. The company I work for, we鈥檙e a contractor on a Suncor Energy site, I got into work there that morning and it was just after dinner that the call came in for the mass evacuation and everybody needed to get out. So our nightshift guys, there鈥檚 only two of them, managed to get into work. Come up north of town, like everyone else was south of the (Athabasca) river, so they had to evacuate the other way. So it was only the two guys who came into work on the Tuesday night. So, basically, we worked the day shift, the night shift and the following day shift, just to allow Suncor to finish what they were doing, so we could finish up what we had to do for them. And then, as soon as we were done, they took us over to their camp across from the site there and they kept us there the Wednesday night and the Thursday night. A couple of the guys that I鈥檇 worked with had flown out or gone north to try and catch the flights out. But I stayed, because I had my vehicle there in town and if there was any way possible, I wanted to check on my vehicle. See if it [was still operational] and then use it to get home. Basically, I was just waiting for [Highway 63] to open up.鈥�
Over the next 24 hours, Ferguson found himself waiting to get the go-ahead to travel back towards the city. Once he received the okay, though, it was still a difficult trek.
鈥淚 think it was around four o鈥檆lock [on Friday morning] when I heard a knock at the door. They said, 鈥楾he camp is being evacuated. If you are not essential services, helping with the maintenance or firefighters, we鈥檙e moving everyone out of here. So there was going be a convoy going through town this morning. So, if you have a vehicle and you want to get into the convoy, fine. Or, we鈥檒l have buses here to take you north.鈥� Now I had no intention of leaving Fort McMurray without my truck. If it was still there and in one piece, I wanted my truck. So, I got into the convoy and I鈥檓 sitting there, waiting in the line. It was a case of sitting for 20 minutes, because it was just a case that they were only taking a few vehicles at a time. You鈥檇 sit for 20 minutes and then move maybe 100 feet, then sit there in the same spot for another 20 minutes. So I sat in the convoy for maybe two hours before I got up close to the front.鈥�
Photo used with permission from Fort McMurray Fire Pictures Fackbook Group
While waiting in the convoy, a news report over the radio indicated that RCMP would under no circumstances at all, allow anyone to leave the convoy to go check on anything. It suggested that there was going to be a police car in the front of the convoy, one in the middle and one behind and a helicopter overhead watching the highway. If anyone attempted to leave the convoy, they would be arrested. That left Ferguson with a difficult decision to make. What followed was a very interesting turn of events, that Ferguson will not soon forget.
鈥淪o I鈥檓 sitting there thinking 鈥極h [expletive]鈥�, because here is my truck, it鈥檚 just 200 feet off the main highway. What am I supposed to do? So, I wait until I got up close to where the RCMP had the road blocked. I parked the company van, got out and walked across the highway to talk to them. I talked to the corporal, who was in charge of the situation. I told him who I was and the circumstances of where my vehicle was. So the next thing I know, there are two vehicles sitting there. The officer said to me 鈥楪et in-between them. Follow the one guy and the other will follow behind you.鈥� That was great. Thank you very much. As I鈥檓 walking back to the company vehicle to go into that section of town and I see the one cruiser just take off, full speed. Didn鈥檛 even wait for me to get into the truck [with a chuckle]. So I rush in, start driving, trying to catch up to him. I鈥檓 doing 130, 140 km an hour trying to catch him. I鈥檓 chasing a cop car, another cop car is chasing me. It must have been quite a sight for anyone watching that. So, the other officer behind me follows all the way to the hotel that I was staying in. As I pulled up to the hotel, I鈥檓 thinking to myself, 鈥楬ow am I going to do this?鈥� because my keys were actually still in my hotel room. I鈥檇 forgotten to mention that point to them. [with a chuckle] So, I showed the officer where my truck was. He said, 鈥楢lright, get your keys and get out of here.鈥� I said 鈥極kay, I just have to get into the hotel room to get them.鈥� He said, 鈥極h鈥kay. How are you going to accomplish that?鈥� I told him I had a key for the back door. Like, my room key works for the back door. So I tried that and the back door opened. So I went in and tried my room key and it wouldn鈥檛 work. So, [the officer] said to me, 鈥業 guess you鈥檒l have to head back north.鈥� I said 鈥楾here is one other option.鈥� He said 鈥榃hat鈥檚 that?鈥� I told him that I鈥檇 been after the maintenance guys for a couple weeks to fix the screen in my window, cause it was partway dislodged. I said, 鈥業f you will follow me around, I鈥檓 on the ground floor. And you can watch me attempt to get through the window and get my keys and all鈥檚 good. He just started laughing. Then he just said, 鈥楢lright, let鈥檚 go [around to the window].鈥� So he looks at the window first and looks over at me. The window at the hotel was only like 18 inches wide by five inches deep. It鈥檚 just a small sliding window. He looks at me and I鈥檓 like 6鈥�2鈥� and 230 pounds. He looks at me, looks at the window, looks at me, looks at the window. He says, 鈥榊ou really think you鈥檙e going to get in there?鈥� And I said to him, 鈥楧o you see this look of determination on my face? This look says that I can see my keys and I know my truck is good. I will get in this window.鈥�
So, he stood there and watched me squirm in. I think it was just a case at that point for him of 鈥楾his I gotta see.鈥� It took some wiggling, but I managed to get in there. He gave 20 minutes to pack up all my belongings and pack up my truck and follow me out of town. So I would like to give a big thank you to him and to the corporal as well. They didn鈥檛 need to help me with any of that. They went above and beyond when it came to me. But I鈥檓 sure, after the week they had, the story of me crawling through that window probably gave him something to chuckle about with his fellow officers, after it was all said and done,鈥� Ferguson said with a chuckle.
As Ferguson drove his own vehicle away from the hotel and out of Fort McMurray, he noted that the scene was quite eerie.
鈥淎ll this happened after the city was evacuated, so the streets were empty. Basically, it was a ghost town. But at the same time, you could only see three or four car lengths in front of you, because the smoke right through town was just so thick. You couldn鈥檛 make out anything. It looked like a war zone but still strangely quiet,鈥� said Ferguson. 鈥淎s I drove away, I honestly didn鈥檛 know if I would ever see the city again, or even if there would even be any city left. In the suburbs, you just couldn鈥檛 see, because it was a cloud of smoke covering everything. The part of the city where I was at, in Gregoire, was pretty much intact at that time. But just across the highway, that section was just gone. So, I don鈥檛 know what to expect whenever I go back. All I could see was devastation, where I was.鈥�
Photo used with permission from Fort McMurray Fire Pictures Fackbook Group
"I want to be there. I want to help."
Reflecting on the disaster, Ferguson praised the front line responders, who worked so tirelessly to ensure that the impact of the fire on Fort McMurray was not much worse, 鈥淭he job that the first responders, the firefighters and the police have done. Trying to make sure anyone got out of there safely, which is miracle in itself, because Fort McMurray has one highway coming in and one highway going out. And you have 70,000 people trying to flee the city on one highway. It could have been much worse than it was.鈥�
Ferguson noted that even though it may be several months before he鈥檚 called back to work, he鈥檇 still like to return to Fort McMurray as soon as possible to assist in any way with bringing some sense of normalcy back to the city.
鈥淚鈥檝e been told by the company that I work for that we probably won鈥檛 be back to work for another four months. So, I just want to get out there. I have friends who have lost everything. Co-workers who have lost everything,鈥� said Ferguson. 鈥淚鈥檓 hoping to get back there as part of the clean up effort or whatever. First opportunity, if I can, I want to be there. I want to help.鈥�
