The mayor of Slave Lake knows what it feels like to see your community surrounded by flames and not knowing when you will be allowed to go home and what will be left when you do.
Tyler Warman was a member of Slave Lake town council and a volunteer firefighter for the northern Alberta community in 2011 when a massive forest fire swept through the town of 7,000.
Warman says when it was all over, the losses were staggering — including 375 homes, the town office, library, provincial offices, 10 commercial buildings, the town’s radio station, six apartment buildings and two churches.
Losses were estimated at close to $1 billion.
Warman says the community has rebuilt largely through the help of the Alberta government.
He says people are still nervous and some have never fully recovered from the fire of 2011.
Warman says, at one point, it looked like the community would be spared — but then winds picked up to 100 km/h and there was nothing anyone could do.
“We can’t tell Mother Nature what to do. We can try to work beside her, but in the end she is going to do what she is going to do and we have to deal with whatever we have when that is all over,” he says. “Hopefully, that is not the kind of incident they are going to have to deal with in La Ronge. Our hearts and prayers are with them.”
The Slave Lake mayor says open and honest communication is key for elected officials.
Warman says for displaced residents, they have to remain patient and allow emergency crews to do their jobs.
He says there will be more than enough for them to do when they do get to go back to their home communities.