Ensuring the safety of the community at home was at the forefront of the Town of Olds' decision to send personnel and equipment to help firefighting efforts in Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Ensuring the safety of the community at home was at the forefront of the Town of Olds' decision to send personnel and equipment to help firefighting efforts in Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
"We can't just leave our own communities in peril so we've got backup within our own communities and rely on mutual aid if something big happens in the area. Certainly enough equipment in the region and enough manpower to handle anything that comes up here," said chief administrative officer Norm McInnis.
Mutual aid agreements are in place between municipalities in Mountain View County. If one party cannot handle an incident on its own, others will send help.
According to a statement, the Olds Fire Department sent seven firefighters and five vehicles – an engine, mini-pumper, a wildland unit and two support vehicles – the night of May 3. They arrived the next morning at about 6:45 a.m.
Four firefighters from the Town of Didsbury's department and two from the Town of Carstairs are with them as well.
"We felt it important to participate in this call from the fire commissioner's office. We would expect the same if we had an emergency of that magnitude in our region here," McInnis said.
The town is ready to help in other ways once the fires are extinguished, whether it's at evacuation centres or through public works to help the city rebuild, as was the case in the 2011 Slave Lake fires or the 2013 floods in High River, he said.
There has not been a request for that type of assistance yet, he said.
As a Rotary Club member, McInnis also expects service clubs and residents in town to send aid as well.
However, he said "Part of what we learned is some of the service clubs and good-willed people want to get involved too early. (What) we learned with High River and Slave Lake is to step back and let the community articulate what their needs are."
"Instead of sending food and clothing and stuff that just gets stockpiled and not used, the community and professionals up there will let you know what the needs are. I think that's a wise message for all of us."
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency has urged municipalities to encourage cash donations to reputable organizations like financial institutions or NGOs. That is because donations-in-kind are labour intensive to process and take staff away from more important work.
As of Wednesday, May 4, the Town of Bowden had no plans to do anything in regard to the fire in Fort McMurray – including holding any emergency meetings on the matter.
However, mayor Robb Stuart said that could change.
"We've had a quick discussion just right now -- the CAO and I," Stuart told the Albertan May 4.
"People are aware and I know some of our residents are coming forward as volunteers but I don't think the town is prepared to do anything at the moment.
"If we're asked to, we definitely will."
