DEEPLY GRATEFUL FOR HELP ALONG THE WAY
Jesse Meyer is full of praise for Alberta’s response to the mass emergency evacuation of Fort McMurray nearly a month ago.
“We’re taking it one day at a time and just being grateful for the positive aspects that we’ve encountered over the last little bit,” said Meyer, a senior manager with the Fort McMurray Airport Authority.
“Being in Edmonton, it’s been one of the greatest host experiences I think Alberta, and this city, has ever put on for the residents of Fort McMurray. Just being grateful for those big and small things right now is important.”
Meyer and his wife Stephanie, a nurse, were born and raised in Edmonton so they had an existing support network after fleeing Fort McMurray. “We were very lucky that we had some friends and family that have been able to take us in over the last couple of weeks.”
The hospitality even extended to the professional courtesy of Edmonton International Airport providing a temporary office for Meyer and other staff to administer the usually bustling northern airport from afar. The terminal buildings at the Fort McMurray airport were unscathed, but several structures on the north side of the airport were damaged.
With a date set for a return to their home in Fort McMurray, Meyer admits driving back into a mostly deserted, partly destroyed city will be surreal, but he’s focused on staying positive.
Meyer believes their home still stands. “We used the (Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo’s) tool, which is an excellent resource. It says that it’s undamaged, it’s habitable, but we won’t know until we get in and I think that’s the case for a lot of people.
“We’re just happy that we were able to get out, that our friends and family in Fort McMurray are safe. We’re very fortunate and we’re in a good situation. The house is still there and that’s great. If there’s smoke damage, there’s smoke damage and we’ll deal with it as the situation unfolds.”
If their home is OK, they hope to pay forward the kindness they and other evacuees received, Meyer says.
“I think it would be great if we’re able to get back to the community and have a place that we can move back into and help others that are displaced as well with a home, if it’s in a condition to be able to, we’d like to be able to offer that as well.”
With his job at the airport and Stephanie’s nursing position at the hospital, both will also be focused on getting those key services back online, he said.
“Going back to the community, I hope that the community remains as strong as it’s ever been. I know for a fact that it will rebuild and there’s going to be a lot of people that will be very keen to get back and help out and that’s what’s made the community strong in the past.”
Despite the ordeal, moving out of Fort McMurray is not an option.
“It’s home. It’s been a great community for me and my wife to live in over the last number of years, and the airport’s got a lot of work ahead of it and I intend to be part of it.”