The Athabasca Multiplex has been a buzz of activity since the Slave Lake evacuation, and two notable politicians saw that for themselves last weekend.
MLA and Alberta leader of the NDP Brian Mason; and Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose party, came to see how well the evacuees are doing.
“I wanted to tour the reception facility for people who have been evacuated from Slave Lake,” Brian Mason said. “I toured the reception centre in Edmonton yesterday.”
Mason was planning a visit to the charred town of Slave Lake on May 20, but Prime Minister Steven Harper beat him to it.
“I think there was lots of good planning, whether it be the government, Red Cross or municipal authorities,” Mason said. “If we didn’t have facilities like this (Multiplex), it would be impossible to provide the kind of services, including food and shelter.”
Smith said she couldn’t believe that only one week after the evacuation, the crisis stage was over.
“They’ve gotten the people to move into the next stage of transition,” she said. “I think that’s to the credit of the community and the incredible volunteers who came together to make this happen.”
Both Mason and Smith toured the Multiplex and were astonished at how Athabasca and the surrounding area stepped up to the plate.
“We’ve got this fantastic response from Albertans. The volunteers that have come forward, the donations, goods, and money,” Mason said. “They’ve got truckloads of stuff that they can’t even use.”
To Mason, the generosity of Albertans doesn’t surprise him, and he’s very proud to be an Albertan when he sees everyone wanting to help out.
“I just can’t say enough about how impressed I am by that,” he said. “I think there is more that could have been done. First of all, the people from Slave Lake are telling me the evacuation was very last minute, that it was too late, and that it was very chaotic.”
When the evacuation was issued, most Slave Lake citizens could only leave with the clothes on their backs.
“Everyone just jumped in their trucks and got the hell out of town,” Mason said. “The radio station was broadcasting that there was no need to evacuate, right up until the point where it burned down.”
There are certain issues that should be addressed, according to Mason.
“I think we should also start asking what we can do to better prepare forest communities like Athabasca from fire,” he said. “It may be time to build fire breaks around forest communities to give more time to those communities if they have to conduct an evacuation.”
Smith agrees and thinks that Slave Lake is a learning experience.
“It is really a model. I hope that the folks who were responsible for the emergency planning here, are able to share some of the good practices with other communities in the event that this happens again,” Smith said.
“I know communities have been threatened before, but I’m not aware of a situation where a significant part of a good-sized town actually burned to the ground,” Mason said. “I think we have to ask why Hector Goudreau, the minister of municipal affairs, has failed to come forward on the review of the building code.”
Mason said that they knew the fire code wasn’t up to snuff two years ago.
“They promised to review the building code, and Mr. Goudreau has done nothing since,” Mason said. “I think if there is any blame to be assigned, I would lay it at the feet of Mr. Gourdreau because of his inaction and the government broke the promise that was made.”
Smith was amazed with how Athabasca came together in a time of crisis. She does, however, think that someone needs to look into whether or not the evacuation warning was issued too late.
“It’s really quite miraculous when you think about what could have happened, how much could have gone wrong, and how much went right,” she said. “I’m amazed being here, just a week later, and seeing that this huge centre, which has fed as many as 2,000 people, has now got people back out into hotels or with family.”
Smith is astonished nobody died in the fire, and while she toured the Multiplex she also visited the Athabasca Reform Congregation to see where some evacuees were staying. Some rooms there had families, or even three Red Cross cots to a room.
“You would have thought with the lack of notice, and the fact that they had to move quickly, there would have been far more injuries or fatalities,” Smith said. “It sounds like, whether it was through good planning, good luck or a combination of both, all of that was avoided.
“We just know from the nature of the environment that we live in as Albertans, that every year there is something terrible that goes wrong in some community.”
