Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Day 6

Day 6 encore: What Fort McMurray residents lost in the fire

This week, Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci went public with the news that Alberta is now in its worst economic downturn in more than 30 years — a situation made worse by the wildfires that savaged Fort McMurray in May. In this Day 6 documentary, two Fort McMurray residents reflect on what they lost in those fires.
CBC Radio ·
The wildfires that savaged Fort McMurray in May played a significant role in the province's ongoing economic woes. (RCMP Alberta)
Day 65:21Day 6 encore: What Fort McMurray residents lost in the fire

Residents who lost everything in the wildfires that savaged Fort McMurray in May were likely not surprised to hear Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci's announcement this week that Alberta is in its worst economic downturn in more than 30 years.

The provincial economy was already in trouble when the wildfires tore through Fort McMurray in May. But the fires had a costly economic impact. All told, they destroyed 2,300 residences, leaving insurable losses worth more than $3.5 billion.

Damage from the wildfires is seen in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood in Fort McMurray, Alta., May 9. (Canadian Press)

The wildfires have also had a lasting emotional impact. Many of the people who fled the flames had to leave at a moment's notice and returned to find that nearly everything they had left behind was gone. 

There's nothing there. Nothing.- Fort McMurray resident Gail Bibeau

Gail Bibeau was among those who lost everything in the fires. Bibeau says her home in Fort McMurray was a shelter and a sanctuary.

"My home was my soft place to fall," she tells Day 6. "The place I raised my two children, the place I made many, many memories." 

The burnt remains of a barbecue are pictured in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 9, 2016 after wildfires forced the evacuation of the town. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)

Bibeau lived in the middle house in between her two sisters-in-law. 

"We all built our homes at the exact same time, raised all our children there," she says. "We didn't even have fences in between the homes. It was one big, humongous backyard."

"There's nothing there. Nothing." Bibeau says. "I've seen videos and pictures. There are still trees standing. There are chimneys you can see. And then there's nothing but horizon." 

I grabbed the cat, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a pillow. And that was it.- Fort McMurray resident Chris Burrows

Like Bibeau, Chris Burrows had to flee the flames at a moment's notice.

"I grabbed the cat, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a pillow. And that was it," he tells Day 6. "That's pretty much all we escaped with."

The view from Chris Burrows' backyard just before he left his home in Fort McMurray.

Like Bibeau, Burrows' thoughts have lingered on the home he used to have and the life he used to have there.

"I actually had an elevator in my house and I remember the kids would play in the elevator," he tells Day 6.  

"I had a $30,000 comic book collection that I'd been collecting since I was 10-years-old. I had comics in there that the kids and I would go through from when I was younger. That's all gone."

"My mother in Ontario had been holding them for me all my life. And she just sent them to me not even four months ago."

Click on the audio button above to hear our Day 6 documentary featuring Bibeau and Burrows. It first aired in May 2016.

More from this episode