Sometimes, there is no silver lining. There’s only a cloud.
The fires that devastated Slave Lake and necessitated the total evacuation of the town on Sunday night have destroyed homes, businesses and countless possessions. The flames and the resultant billowing smoke clouds have displaced every man, woman and child who calls Slave Lake home while claiming an astonishing one-third of the town, according to the mayor.
Somehow, miraculously, there had been no injuries or fatalities as a result of the fires as of Monday morning.
And now, the residents of Slave Lake who have been forced to flee their homes must wait.
They wait in Edmonton, they wait in Westlock, and they wait here in Athabasca, where the community has opened its doors and hearts to countless evacuees.
Nowhere is this clearer than at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, which is overflowing with Slave Lake residents who arrived in the dead of night on Sunday. Thanks to the generosity and compassion of this community, they arrived to find a warm place to sleep, a place to keep their pets, a place to eat and a place to make contact with their loved ones.
Members of this community wasted no time in extending their helping hands to our guests from Slave Lake. Volunteers arrived at the Multiplex en masse, residents came with donations of food, blankets, pillows and other crucial items, and local businesses came through with donations of their own.
This kindness will no doubt be needed even more in the days to come.
Members of this community deserve no small amount of gratitude and respect for their willingness to simply be there for those in need.
Whatever form that need takes in the coming days and weeks, the people of Slave Lake now know they can turn to Athabasca for support.
