Mountain View County will be donating $2,500 to the Red Cross for Fort McMurray fire victim support.
Council passed a motion approving the donation on May 11.
More than 80,000 people were evacuated from Fort McMurray after wildfires swept into the community on May 3. Hundreds of homes and other buildings have been destroyed in the northeast Alberta city.
“It's $2,500 on behalf of our county residents,” said Reeve Bruce Beattie. “We know that many, many of our residents are contributing so we want to make sure we show our support too.
“We are also committed to providing any other kind of support that we might provide. For example, wastewater and water expertise that we have at the county that we could perhaps provide to assist. We will be open to providing any kind of assistance that we can, beside the dollars to the Red Cross.”
Councillors also passed a motion instructing administration to plan an event to thank and recognize emergency personnel from the district who have gone to Fort McMurray to help with the efforts there.
“Council clearly wants to recognize the efforts of our emergency personnel volunteers within the county. Many of those have travelled to Fort McMurray to fight fire and have spent days there. They went above and beyond their normal activities to help the people up there.
“We want to do something to recognize their efforts. We've asked administration to bring back some recommendations around what we can do to show our appreciation.”
A date for the thank-you event had not been set at press time Friday.
"We know that many, many of our residents are contributing so we want to make sure we show our support too."Bruce BeattieMVC Reeve
