Fort Mac fire chief retires, still concerned about team
Fighting ‘The Beast’ took heavy mental, emotional toll on firefighters, Allen says
If everything goes according to plan, fire Chief Darby Allen will be enjoying retirement life in Vancouver with his wife, Maria, by this time next month. He will be making plans to travel, wants to buy a boat and looks forward to keeping active with hikes and walks.
But, he says, his mind will remain fixated on the emotional and mental wellness of the firefighters he has led as their chief since 2009, their biggest battle fought last year against the massive May wildfire dubbed “The Beast.”
“The majority are doing OK, but we have quite a few people off right now with wellness issues and they’re not doing so great,” says Allen, who retires Friday.
He was already planning to retire this year, but admits last May’s wildfire hastened his plans. There are also some feelings of guilt about leaving the community and the department at a sensitive time.
Allen said 13 firefighters are currently on leave due to a wellness issue. Nearly one year after his department battled one of the worst disasters in Canadian history, he finds the mental health issues are still hitting his team.
“For some people, it’s just hitting them now. I don’t think we’re over that hump, I think we’re somewhere in the middle,” says Allen. “I don’t believe that’s a short-term fix. We need to look at that issue to the medium- to long term.”
The fact so many have taken a personal leave or sought counselling since May — including himself — is concerning, he adds. But it also shows the stigma that existed toward mental health issues is disappearing.
For years, a call that was particularly gruesome would likely be talked about briefly over coffee at a fire hall, then dropped, says Allen.
“It was viewed as if you were not a man if you went outside that circle and went for help,” he says. “People are aware they can seek help. They’re aware they should and there are resources.”
Allen will leave Fort McMurray just as major construction in the community to repair the wildfire damage is expected to begin. The municipality says just over 400 building permits have been approved since last summer. Thousands more homes will be rebuilt during the next few years.
With emotions still raw for many residents, some have accused the municipality of taking too long to get people out when the wildfire hit. Others say the firefighters let too much of the city burn.
Accusations that firefighters purposely allowed parts of Fort McMurray to burn hurts, Allen says. That so many homes were destroyed will haunt him, but firefighters did everything possible with the resources they could muster to save as much of Fort McMurray as they could, he says.
There were only 32 firefighters on duty the morning of the fire. By the end of the day, there were more than 200 firefighters in the city, many coming from the rural hamlets and industry. Even more would arrive later. But once the fire entered the city, the flames were burning so intensely and moving so quickly that the priority was stopping its spread.
“The firefighters deserve all the grace. They were truly heroic. And not only the firefighters, but other people who were not used to that situation but helped, like transit or water treatment plant workers,” says Allen. “It was a group effort and there was some truly heroic actions in those early days from everyone.”
The majority are doing OK, but we have quite a few people off right now with wellness issues and they’re not doing so great.