'Belt Drive Betty' feeds 2,000 first responders with Fort McMurray sandwiches
Like most Canadians on May 3, Renee "Belt Drive Betty" Charbonneau watched hearbtroken as a devastating Fort McMurray wildifre raged through the city.
Charbonneau felt helpless.
But when Fire Chief Darby Allen announced that firefighter crews and first responders were in need of food and water, she knew this was something she could do.
It didn't take long after "Belt Drive Betty," an editor of a motorcycle magazine, reached out to her community to help raise funds for supplies. In a couple hours, she raised $2,500. The riding community would fill the truck.
Betty's contractor joined in the mission. She drove her diesel truck and travel trailer, picked up Grovedale firefighter Jesse Cattell and the three left their home of Grand Prairie, Atla., and headed to Fort Mac.
"Everywhere you looked there were flames, smoke, smoldering — vehicles abandoned, buildings burnt. The smell was horrific," Charbonneau remembers.
It was midnight that same day when the team arrived at MacDonald Island Park to set up their station.
Charbonneau recalls the very first firefighter that came around the corner in his rig. "You could see the fatigue. The man was shaking from head to toe."
The firefighter looked at the spread of food and water and asked if it was all for the taking. Proudly Charbonneau said it was provided by the motorcycle community of Alberta to support the first responders.
What happened next, Charbonneau will never forget.
The firefighter started to cry.
"I haven't had anything to eat except Ritz crackers and granola bars in the last 62 hours," says the famished firefighter.
In the first 30 hours of their arrival, Charbonneau made over 800 sandwiches and adds at one point, she fed upwards of 2,000 people.
Charbonneau remained in Fort McMurray for six days — sleeping on a cot near the station. She says she couldn't leave what she felt was her family.
There are plans to to return to Fort McMurray with more needed supplies. Charboneau says she wants to help until the army arrives.
When asked about the accolades and recognition she has received from firefighters and first responders, Charbonneau says she is overwhelmed but doesn't feel she's done anything "truly special."
"I believe that in life you should always pay things forward."
This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien.