Memories of Slave Lake Fire Shared In Dryden

The rebuild continues in Slave Lake, Alberta but the horrific memories of the May 2011 fire remain.
Karl Hill is Director of Community Services for Slave Lake and he relived the memories of the great fire yesterday at the Northwest Response Forum in Dryden.
Hill, who is also a firefighter, says it was a life changing and traumatic experience that no one saw coming.
Hill says the fire had no course and hit random homes at random times.
He stressed it couldn’t be stopped.
Hill notes the trauma that kids experienced and witnessed still continues today and the town is working to get things back to normal.
Hill says 732 families were displaced, 332 homes were lost and 12-apartment buildings and commercial businesses were destroyed.
The fire also destroyed the newly built $27-million Municipal Hall and most records were lost in the blaze.
The entire community lost power, telephone and radio service as well as forced the evacuation of the community.
The fire is the second largest natural disaster in Canadian history and it wiped out one-third of the town of 7,000.