Face of wildfire fight in Fort Mac reflects on ‘ferocious blaze’
Posted Jun 7, 2016 7:24 am.
Last Updated Jun 7, 2016 9:16 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He’s become the most recognized face in the battle against the monstrous Fort McMurray wildfire.
Chief Darby Allen was Director of Emergency Operations when a two hectare blaze was spotted south of the city.
With hot and dry conditions, the budding beast started moving rapidly towards the city.
“I don’t think, me included, anyone has ever seen that type of ferocity, magnitude of fire,” Allen said. “It was just coming. The key then is to try and figure out where it’s gonna go.”
Allen says the day the whole city fled was the worst of his career.
“You can only do so much, so you know I’m getting constant radio messages of ‘this area’s been impacted’, ‘this area’s been lost’, and then I’m worried because of the amount of people that we’re trying to move, and where we’re going to put them,” he said.
There were only 32 emergency services workers on staff at the time blaze started ripping up the west side of Fort McMurray.
Dozens more suited up to help and Allen says it’s incredible what they did with minimal staff, two tanker trucks and four pumpers.
He says without instruction, many firefighters battled the flames for five days straight, only resting during short windows of time.
Chief Allen talked about three major fronts where crews stood their ground.
“If it had gone into Birchwood Trails, then we would have lost a lot of Thickwood and a lot of Timberlea. There’s no question in my mind about that,” Allen said.
Allen says he’s proud of his fire department and the fact that no one lost their lives as a direct result of the wildfire.
But, he says it still hurts knowing not everyone has a home to go back to.
