Although I have no pics I do have an experience to tell about my day yesterday. I was on my way home from Red Deer and about 4:00 PM as I was at about at Halkirk I got a call from the Victim Services co-ordinator saying there were 2 prairie fires out of control near Castor & could I help with giving out food, etc to the firefighters & others involved. (The wind was gale force, like what the west coast had a day earlier). I said sure, so met them at the junction of highways #12 and # 36 and we went south to where the fire had jumped #36 and where the command post was set up. This is a fire deptmnt truck that has a room in the front where all communications go through a co-ordinator and all directions are given. In the back is a long room with a bench down the side and where we set up the food. This was a first for me so I was learning along the way.
Altough traffic was shut down in both directions for about 6-8 hours some truckers tried to snake through but were pulled over and we fed some of them as well. The nearby Suncrest Hutterite colony provided food as well as the hospital and neighbors. We had heaps.
Earlier that morning there was a fire north of Castor in the Battle River valley so the firefighters and water trucks were there when they got the call of the one south. (Iheard this one started by the wind fanning an old brushpile). By the time they got to the south one it was well advanced and jumped the highway and totally burned around a farm house. The Lord had his hand on that house as all bales, corrals, outbuildings, machinery, pumphouse, etc. as well as most of the shelterbelt went up in smoke. It was like an island in a sea of black.
Some of the VSU (victim service unit) volunteers sat with the family trying to console them & get them to evacuate, some went with RCMP to warn other farmsteads and a couple of us gave out coffee & food. It was a scene I have only seen in the movies and unfortunately this was real, with a sea of flashing lights, acrid smoke and black faced firemen & women. Some of these guys (& fire gals)had been out since 10:00 A.M and when I left at 11:30 PM some had gone back to the north where the fire had flared up again & others were still dousing hotspots and cutting trees in the shelterbelt. Units from Castor, Hanna, Stettler, Byemoor, Halkirk and Coronation were there as well as RCMP from as far away as Red Deer and the Calgary news was reporting on the state of emergency in the county of Paintearth.
The poor family we were with finally had power restored but had no water as the pumphouse had burned as well as waterlines had either melted or been damaged by trucks. Their cattle were hopefully out there wandering around somewhere but 2 horses in the corral were feared dead. Another family nearby had show horses they were trying to round up in the dark so they could be evacuated.
During the course of the windy day there were other fires in the area but none as bad. Coming home from Consort that afternoon Murray spotted a fire that had just started by a gas flare at a battery site south of us on #886. He rushed home for the water truck and others arrived and it did not get far.
It is hard to believe that in this day of modern communications and equipment things could get so out of hand but as witnessed in Kelowna and California, we are never safe.
We are certainly seeing "the day approaching". We are only here to spread His love and kindness until then.
Altough traffic was shut down in both directions for about 6-8 hours some truckers tried to snake through but were pulled over and we fed some of them as well. The nearby Suncrest Hutterite colony provided food as well as the hospital and neighbors. We had heaps.
Earlier that morning there was a fire north of Castor in the Battle River valley so the firefighters and water trucks were there when they got the call of the one south. (Iheard this one started by the wind fanning an old brushpile). By the time they got to the south one it was well advanced and jumped the highway and totally burned around a farm house. The Lord had his hand on that house as all bales, corrals, outbuildings, machinery, pumphouse, etc. as well as most of the shelterbelt went up in smoke. It was like an island in a sea of black.
Some of the VSU (victim service unit) volunteers sat with the family trying to console them & get them to evacuate, some went with RCMP to warn other farmsteads and a couple of us gave out coffee & food. It was a scene I have only seen in the movies and unfortunately this was real, with a sea of flashing lights, acrid smoke and black faced firemen & women. Some of these guys (& fire gals)had been out since 10:00 A.M and when I left at 11:30 PM some had gone back to the north where the fire had flared up again & others were still dousing hotspots and cutting trees in the shelterbelt. Units from Castor, Hanna, Stettler, Byemoor, Halkirk and Coronation were there as well as RCMP from as far away as Red Deer and the Calgary news was reporting on the state of emergency in the county of Paintearth.
The poor family we were with finally had power restored but had no water as the pumphouse had burned as well as waterlines had either melted or been damaged by trucks. Their cattle were hopefully out there wandering around somewhere but 2 horses in the corral were feared dead. Another family nearby had show horses they were trying to round up in the dark so they could be evacuated.
During the course of the windy day there were other fires in the area but none as bad. Coming home from Consort that afternoon Murray spotted a fire that had just started by a gas flare at a battery site south of us on #886. He rushed home for the water truck and others arrived and it did not get far.
It is hard to believe that in this day of modern communications and equipment things could get so out of hand but as witnessed in Kelowna and California, we are never safe.
We are certainly seeing "the day approaching". We are only here to spread His love and kindness until then.
