Five lives, one haunting image
As Trudeau sees devastation, first responders recall moment that changed them forever
Jamie Germain took off his jacket, dropped to his knees and trained his hose on the smoking remains of a Fort McMurray home. From the driveway, he could see the top floor had collapsed into the basement and ash-dusted embers still glowed underneath.
Behind him, his partner Mel Angelstad knew this was no ordinary fire. And he knew that for Germain, this was no ordinary house.
The two-storey residence belonged to Jamie’s twin brother, Scott, an acting captain in the Fort McMurray fire department who was pushing back against the flames two streets away.
Looking from his fire truck at the extraordinary scene before him, Angelstad knew he would carry the image the rest of his life.
“I knew I wouldn’t forget what happened there,” he told the Star. “I could see the feeling Jamie was having towards it, that he felt as if he let his brother down but he did everything he could.”
So Angelstad pulled out his iPhone to capture a moment shared among the 20 or so Fort Mac firefighters who lost their own homes to a wildfire devouring the community yet remarkably went on to save others and, eventually, most of the city.
Still, the astonishing connections in the tale of the northern Alberta city’s fight for survival did not end there.
When the battle came to a close, Jamie could not bring himself to call his brother, to be the voice that would tell him his house was gone.
“It killed me that I couldn’t call him and say we saved it,” he said. “I really wish we could have saved any part of it. I hate that we lost it all.”
So it fell to Angelstad’s girlfriend and fellow firefighter, Rachelle Daniel, to phone Scott’s wife, Michelle, a 911 dispatcher. The call was made and, suddenly, five friends’ lives were changed forever.
The Star takes an exclusive look at how the dramatic events played out for five first responders and why some firefighters are calling this photo ‘beautifully haunting.’ Its story of love, heartbreak and heroism helps explain why.