Fort McMurray wildfire: Manitobans look for ways to help

Manitobans watching the devastating wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., are offering to help.

About 88,000 people have had to leave Fort McMurray and surrounding areas as the fire, which has destroyed several residential neighbourhoods, continues to burn. Tens of thousands of people fled the city, sometimes with flames roaring on both sides of the highway.

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The Canadian Red Cross launched an appeal for Fort McMurray relief donations on Tuesday night. Donations can be made on the Red Cross's website or by calling 1-800-418-1111.

"We're asking people who want to help to make a financial donation to the Red Cross, which will go towards helping people in Fort McMurray, providing shelter, other assistance as required," said Jason Small, a spokesperson for the Red Cross in Manitoba.

Small said anyone who is concerned about loved ones in Fort McMurray can call the Red Cross family reunification line at 1-888-350-6070.

No Red Cross emergency volunteers in Manitoba have been sent to Fort McMurray to date, he said.

Winnipeg 'ready and willing' to help, mayor says

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said Wednesday that the city's emergency preparedness co-ordinator has contacted fire chiefs in Fort McMurray and Edmonton to see if they need help.

"We've certainly indicated to our provincial counterparts, as well as directly to the chief in Fort McMurray as well as in Edmonton, that we're ready and willing to play whatever role we can to provide assistance," Bowman told reporters at city hall.

"I mean, it's an absolutely horrific situation, horrific images. The level of co-ordination has to be immense and Winnipeggers want to do their part."

The Manitoba government said Wednesday afternoon that it won't be able to send any resources to Alberta because it's been dealing with 28 wildfires in this province.

• Manitoba too busy fighting its own wildfires to send resources to Alberta

"At this time we only have enough resources to work in Manitoba," said Gary Friesen, manager of the fire program with Manitoba Sustainable Development.

"We do, as a matter of routine, share resources with each other. Unfortunately, that's only as you can or able to with your own forest fire situation."

Marc Mousseau, the aviation and equipment co-ordinator with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre based in Winnipeg, says it has received requests from Alberta for equipment and crews.

The centre co-ordinates requests for assistance from provinces that have exceeded their internal firefighting capacity.

"As it stands right now, it looks like the province of British Columbia will fill all or most of the equipment order, whereas the personnel will be coming from Ontario," Mousseau said.

Bowman encouraged Winnipeggers who want to do something now to make a donation to the Red Cross.

While federal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has said the Canadian Armed Forces would be making all assistance available to the Alberta government, a spokesperson for Canadian Forces Base Shilo said soldiers on the western Manitoba base have not been asked to deploy to Fort McMurray at this time.

'Do not self-deploy,' union tells Winnipeg firefighters

Firefighters in Winnipeg have expressed interest in going to Fort McMurray, but the union representing them has asked them not to go on their own.

"We have had numerous requests and enquiries by our members to go out to assist our Fort McMurray brothers and sisters, but please do not self-deploy," Alex Forrest, president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday morning.

"We have been in contact with the firefighters there, and if they need assistance they will advise, and then we will manage the request accordingly."

'Most terrifying thing'

Among those displaced by the wildfire is Russell Thomas, a former city councillor in Fort McMurray, who said he learned of the emergency while he was at a workshop south of the city on Tuesday afternoon.

He ended up having to head south while the rest of his family had to leave the city heading north.

"It's the most awful feeling in the world to know that you cannot be there to support your wife and support your children. It's indescribable. But I know thousands are in the same situation," he said in an interview.

"What I went through was nothing compared to what others went through because a number of folks here … drove through walls of flames on both sides of the highway, and they said it was the most terrifying thing they've ever experienced, and I'm seeing that over and over again on social media. So yeah, this will be an event none of us will ever forget."

Thomas said people in Fort McMurray have been resilient through the disaster, and he's been moved by the support offered by other Albertans.