FLARE-UPS AND AIR QUALITY ARE WORRIES, BUT FORT MCMURRAY IS STILL HOME
A return to Fort McMurray means a break from the waiting game for Eileen and Rick Drover — but it comes with a dose of hope and a few fears as well.
The couple left town along with a wave of evacuees from the Timberlea neighbourhood and picked up their motor home along the way, a decision that proved to be a good one.
“We’re still out in our RV so that still seems to be working out fine,” said Eileen, her East Coast accent lingering despite being in Fort McMurray for 40 years.
A need for more regular connections to power, water and sewer meant a move from Lac La Biche to Acheson, just west of Edmonton.
Since then, waiting for funds to arrive from the Red Cross has been frustrating, a feeling that is slowly being replaced by concern for the conditions when they go back.
Eileen said her brother was called back to work in Fort McMurray and, though their house is still standing, he told them the city is still very smokey.
“Then they heard that there was another flare-up,” she said. “It still puts up an alarm wondering if it’s safe to go back. “There are concerns, wondering whether or not we’re going back too soon.”
She also wonders what is causing the flare-ups and if someone is responsible for it or if it’s just remnants of the fire coming back.
Having her elderly parents living with them, the smoke also prompts worries.
“My parents, they’re eager to go back. There is a concern, they’re older than me and I can probably handle a lot more health-wise but there is that concern wondering how they will do once we get back,” she said.
The family is planning to follow directions they’ve been given, including loading up the RV fridges with a few weeks of groceries and getting their hands on some good masks in case the smoke is too much to handle.
Her feelings for the city as a future home, however, are unshaken.
“Fort McMurray has always been our home,” she said. “I’ve been there for 40 years now. That is home, it will always be home. It may be half gone, it may be just a quarter of it could be gone. Either way, we will make it our home.”
The experience has also given them something to strive for.
“It may take years to rebuild what we lost, but we are looking forward to getting back there and starting what we have to to rebuild and help out our community and help out neighbours who are in need,” Eileen said.
A starting point will be their church, the Tabernacle of Praise Church in Waterways, which they have learned has been destroyed.
Congregation members have already had meetings to assemble photos for insurance companies and they plan to rebuild as soon as possible.
“It’s a sad time,” she said, “but at the same time we’re looking forward to a new change and building something stronger.”
It may be half gone, it may be just a quarter of it could be gone. Either way, we will make it our home.