The last run
of buses sit empty during a mandatory evacuation at Anzac Recreation
Centre in Anzac, Alta., on Thursday May 5, 2016. Photo by Ian Kucerak
But by Wednesday evening, as the flames headed south, it became impossible to distinguish them from the thousands who had spent the last 24 hours hours living at the community’s only recreation centre.
A mandatory evacuation order had been issued for the three southern communities, shortly before 10 p.m. Anzac, a community of 718, absorbed as many as 8,000 people at the peak of the evacuation.
The south-blowing wind also forced the evacuation of the Regional Emergency Operations Centre near the airport, regrouping at the Bold Centre in Lac La Biche. It had been operating as an evacuation centre since Fort McMurray was first evacuated Tuesday evening.
At its current course, Councillor Jane Stroud, who represents the municipality’s rural hamlets on municipal council, says the fire could reach Anzac by noon Thursday, depending on weather patterns.
During the afternoon, the smoke could be seen at the community’s only recreation centre, which officials estimate sheltered between 2,500 and 3,000 the first night
Rick and Debbie Smith, who lived in Anzac for the last 14 years, hoped Gregoire Lake would act as a buffer. They had packed emergency supplies earlier in the day. Yet the couple, their 32-year-old daughter and 3-year-old grandson could not believe they would join the exodus down Highway 881, until a police officer told them to leave their Woodward Crescent home.
Now, the trailer they had let a group of four stay during the night prior was their new home.
“Yeah, we’ve got each other. We’re trying to stay in good spirits,” said Rick at a gas station in Conklin, 110 kilometres south. Debbie, still shaking from the orders to leave their home, pointed out he was retiring from his oilsands sales job with Joy Global Inc. in 18 months. “I guess we might be retiring earlier than we thought,” she said.
Conklin’s main gas station along Highway 881 avoided the chaos seen in Anzac during the previous day. At that point, most of Fort McMurray’s displaced in Anzac had already continued south.
They had spent the evening resting and arranging lodging with friends or family elsewhere. Others headed to evacuation centres in Janvier, Conklin, Lac La Biche and Edmonton.
The hundreds that chose to remain in Anzac, only to flee in buses and cars the next evening, could only watch the sky turn a dark red, orange and black as the flames travelled south. At 8:42 p.m., a post from the municipality’s Twitter account described the junction of Highways 63 and 69 as “a wall of fire.” By midnight, the last buses had left the rural hamlet.
“It was almost like watching a sunset and the colours got darker,” said Katie Robicheau, 25. Fifteen days ago, Robicheau and her boyfriend, Greg Doyle, 26, bought their first home in Gregoire.
As of Wednesday night, the fire was on the outskirts of the neighbourhood. It wasn’t until the couple stopped to plot their next move when they realized the home they spent two years saving for might not make it through the night.
“We’re thinking of trying Lac La Biche. We want to avoid Edmonton’s crowds right now,” said Doyle. “New stove, new fridge, I had a new PC setup for gaming, guitars... we sunk a lot into it.”
All night, evacuees trickled in to grab food, water and gas before planning their next steps. Some had travelled north from Edmonton, offering all three for free. Kyle Sawchuk and Alex Harvey, two construction workers tasked with installing fire suppression sprinklers, arrived with an estimated $500 to $600 worth of supplies, a sign taped to their truck promising free "WATER + FUEL."
"It hit us close, watching everything burn while we install the things to put it out," said Sawchuk.
-with reporting from Cullen Bird
vmcdermott@postmedia.com
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