The speed that the fire spread is incredible. It seemed just like another forest fire that is near a community we get up in Alberta and British Columbia. The coverage by the National Post shows the fire just creeping around Ft. McMurray on May 2 and 3 and by May 4 a large portion of the town was engulfed. [1] Before and after photos show the burnt homes and buildings like schools. [2]

I live in Edmonton (4.5 hours south of Ft. McMurray) which is taking in a lot of evacuees. It's so heart warming to see so many people rise up and try to help everyone by donating places to sleep, someone put up a website to help facilitate http://www.ymmfire.ca. 2 blocks from my home is a drop off for supplies and all you hear is car horns of support and people waiting to drop off supplies. People drove up the previous days with pickup trucks to bring gasoline and supplies to motorist stranded on the highway. [3]

The most heartwarming of the stories to me is hearing of recent refugees helping out. [4]

“We understand what they’re feeling. When you lose everything, you have to start from zero. You lose your memories, your items. It’s not easy. It’s something very sad. We can totally understand their feeling. We are very thankful to the Canadian people and we want to be a part of this society. We will do our best to be a good part of this society. By doing that, maybe we can return a little bit of the great job that Canadian people did for us”

It feels good to see the support from the newcomers, people in the province and seeing our provincial and federal governments step in with resources and funding to fight the fire and help people.

1. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/tracking-the-fort-m...

2. http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/see-stunning-before...

3. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/national/inside+fort+mcm...

4. http://www.edmontonjournal.com/understand+what+they+feeling+...

Edits to links.