There is a lot to be learned from the massive wildfire in Fort McMurray last year.
Dale Bendfeld is the Deputy Director of Emergency Management for the Municipality of Wood Buffalo and he was one of the feature speakers at the Northwest Response Forum Tuesday night.
He says Dryden is almost in the same position as the northern Alberta City when it comes to geography and transportation routes.
Bendfeld says Dryden has the facilities it needs to deal with a disaster, with an accessible highway to Kenora and Thunder Bay as well as lake access.
Bendfeld says the pieces are in place here to deal with an emergency, it’s just a matter of ensuring that you have the understanding of how to properly get people out of town and who to contact in the event of a disaster.
He called the Fort McMurray nearly 590,000 hectare fire “a three headed monster”, stressing it had a mind of its own.
The blaze started May 1st southwest of the City and two days later it unexpectedly spread through the community, leading to the largest evacuation in Alberta history.
Bendfeld stressed municipalities should be ready to expect the unexpected, noting the fire took a turn for the worse that no one was prepared for.
He says the incident proved that co-operation and integration are key to dealing with any disaster and it showed how tight this country can be to assist no matter what the problem is.
