Just wondering who all here is affected by the fire near Ft. McMurray? I am hearing that 60,000 people are being evacuated and this is Albertas biggest mandatory evacuation in history. How many people here are 'bugging out'? And lastly, did the lessons learned from High River effect your bugout at all? Hope all are safe.
Aaron
As a former Albertan I hope all are safe, too. This is one of those situations where bugging out is now a no-brainer..entire neighborhoods are gone. The entire city is now under mandatory evac. Bet those ppl with spare gas are thankful now...
🙁
HopeImReady
"The thing about smart mother f*ckers, is that they sometimes sound like crazy mother f*ckers to dumb mother f*ckers." -Abraham .”
Last night they were saying as many as 20 000 were likely heading to Edmonton, I tried looking around on the news sites to see if there was some central place that people could post if they had extra room but I didn't find any site like that, maybe that number can be absorbed into existing hotels, camp sites and rv sites...I have lots of room for rvs, and a empty one sitting in the yard someone could use....
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Northlands in Edmonton is taking evacuees. Red Cross and SPCA will be there. Can accommodate rv's. Maybe people can donate stuff there.
Briden Solutions has a great campaign going where you can sponsor a food bucket that will go directly to the places taking in refuges.
Check out the link...
http://www.bridensolutions.ca/fort-mac
The Canadian Preppers Network has sponsored a 72hr food bucket for relief efforts...please consider donating!
The numbers they are now releasing have 88,000 evacuated, with a number of them north of Fort McMurray on oil camp sites. Unfortunately, the road ends there. They are having problems with the main (only) highway south to Edmonton and it is opening and closing as the fire moves around. The winds have picked up, the temperatures are high and the humidity is low, so all in all a really ugly situation. They are now uttering the unthinkable that if the fire gets going again through the later afternoon, they could lose most of the City to the flames. So sad...people have lost everything, pets and livestock have been left when they couldn't get back to them. Gridlock on the main highway last night saw many, many vehicles running out of fuel while they were sitting waiting for traffic to move, and the flames on both sides of the road terrifying everyone. Numerous head on collisions when people tried to get around the traffic jams and drove on the wrong side of the road. The airport was open but it now appears to be closed to commercial flights now. No fuel in town or en route for miles and stores have been picked clean on the evacuation routes. I am incredibly proud and amazed that the people of Alberta are opening up their homes, cottages, trailers, backyards to the evacuees, offering to care of pets, horses and other livestock and giving everything they possibly can. As we watched the horror unfolding last night, I looked at my other half and said "mandatory evacuation, grab your stuff....what do you take?" Good time to remember that bad things don't just happen to other people. The people in Fort McMurray had only minutes to grab what they could and go...
"It's better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret"
Resources for evacuees and those wanting to help http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/calgary/fort-mcmurray-fire-information-updates-1.3565397 . Latest news, accommodations, food, pet care, vehicle repair, financial aid, etc > free for Fort Mac Residents.
I am surprised there is not much discussion here. Good coverage overall on the internet, good to see people getting out safely in this grab and go situation and the good will of gas stations and citizens giving away gas, neccessities , volunteers taking animals on their safe land, offers of aid are all over on facebook . I am thinking this is one emergency I myself need a plan for , I am in an at risk location for wildfires.
Okay commentary on the preceding circumstance , Ft. Mac being 32 C in the beginning of May etc.
Paul Beckwith :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT0r...ature=youtu.be
Short commentary from Radio Ecoshock :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I6QuntzPmo
Well Syn, not much to talk about really....The response ramped up fast, and with the offers of accommodation, and needed goods pouring in, I suspect most every one will be covered until the insurance money can start flowing.Its a good example of how people can respond. I am thinking this might be the largest near instant, peace time movement of people in Canada( nearly 100 000) and I cant think of a worse place for this to happen, with only one road in!! its my understanding there was no loss of life (car accidents excluded).
The property loss is going to be enormous, greater dollar wise than the flooding in 2013.....Those with insurance know what happened with rates in Alberta after that, get ready for another stiff rate increase....There is no risk in the insurance business all costs are passed on.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Syn, I'm sure people will check in with lessons learned at a later point.
In the meanwhile, I'm thinking many of us are reviewing plans or creating new ones in light of this tragedy.
I've noticed this AM in the news that people are actively complaining that the government (local, provincial) waited too long to order evacuation. What I'm not aware of is how long were people informed that the fire was burning near the city. I suppose whether evacuation was well executed or not, you can't argue with success when everyone got out unhurt.
So I admit I don't know much about charitable organizations but I heard the federal government is going to give matching contributions to the Red Cross. I don't know this organization well so when I do some google research there is great praise, even a rating of A+ from some organization that rates charities...but lets face it, You can get whatever rating you want or need by how much you pay. Its like justice you can have all you can afford.
So I wasted a hour of my morning digging a little deeper, looking at last years CRA filing, and the Red Crosses own reports. Now I cant do the mathematical gymnastics and conjuring a accountant does in those reports. So I am keeping my prima facia evaluation as simple as a simple man like my self can understand, distilled as follows....from 2015
Total Revenue= 268 774 000
Total employies ( full time only)=1489
Average Salary= 59185 So Labour payments total 88 126 465 Or 32.8 % of revenue.
Government liabilities on that amount in the form of EI and CPP contributions will ad 2317726 (EI) and 3788016(cpp) bringing the total to 94 232 207 or 35.1% Due note that my figure, and it looks reasonable to me is twice their clamed figure of 17 % (administrative costs) though I suspect some of their labour is part of the fund raising total....I suspect it as a accounting measure to lower the appearance of administrative costs.
Now They also have a Dental- health, and private retirement plan paid in part by the Employer that will add a couple percent to the labour costs, So just by a quick look at labour costs I am ball parking 38 % of revenue(2015). I have not even looked at fixed costs, buildings, utilities, automotive, plane ,insurance, and costs to run fund raising campanes (leased buildings,office furniture, printer costs, tv, paper advertising) I know that those costs will blow the figure well passed 50%.
Despite its A+ rating as a charity in my oponion 50% of your money (min) will disappear into a either of costs hidden by legal creative accounting..........chew the numbers yourself.....
I would much rather the feds just give directly to each individual effected by the fire, I think 50% more money will get to those that need it . If you were thinking of donating 100 to the Red Cross, know likely less than 50.00 of that will go as a benefit to someone.....go to the shelter...camp site hotel,motel wherever you find them sheltering and just donate it to someone...your dollar goes twice as far!!
Sources.
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/media/audit_pdfs/FINAL-Consolidated-CRCS-March-31,-2015.pdf
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/71-canadian-red-cross
By the way I am not saying their salary and compensation package is to much, just the opposite, it seems reasonable to me. Nor am I saying the Red Cross doesn't due good work, rather just pointing out they clearly have high fixed labour costs, likely because of the other (non emergency) programs that they run, that I am sure are of value but which necessitates having larger fixed staffing costs.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
The reality is that it is an easy conduit for the federal government to get the funds where it needs to go. If the government was to take ownership of the program it would be much more expensive as they would have to pay agents in the field, at refugee centers, etc, instead of using CRC volunteers. Even if the government was to take the admin side of the money, they probably could t do it for less than the CRC's "business costs". Finally, it's also an easy way to encourage citizens to donate "hey, we'll match your money (with money we were going to give anyway)!"
That said, don't get me wrong, I believe the CRC does great work but I still prefer giving to smaller charities with yet a smaller overhead. Let's think about it, the food banks and all these ma & pa charities will all need to start from scratch there and probably with an influx in demand. They would all gladly accept your donations.
My biggest peeve with the CRC is not their overhead, it's the time it takes them to disburse the millions raised. I understand they want to do it right and give only to those who deserve it, but looking back at things like the Saguenay River floods, it took them years to disburse the funds raised specifically for the victims of that tragedy. Maybe things have improved since then, I haven't done the research.
I have been busy along with the community looking for shelters and donations for the people of Fort Mac that are arriving here...
But I had to take a moment to paste this editorial.. It is so true... Seeing this community and others across Alberta all pitch in the the displacement of almost 88000 people, definitely lets you have faith that humanity will survive and thrive..
I also would like to thank those who have helped... Every little bit goes a long way.
I prep for my daughters, for they are our future.
I prep for the short and long term. Everyday I strive to learn something new.
I prep for community. For in the long run each of us need one another.
Not much to talk about, really ? . Peppercorn, I understand the basic dynamics of what is happening . In light of all we know of forest die off happening, climate change and the disruption of air currents as noted by Paul Beckwith , you have a population of people operating on a business as usual basis ( no slur of these people , I had family there too ) and politicians CUTTING funding for firefighting drastically prior to this wildfire that just wiped out a key Canadian city . We have had an unusual weather pattern that may not be precedented but the need for vigilant fire protection this year was entirely predictable and not acted upon . I was an urban planner and from that background my instincts are these cities were planned in an era when the fire risk was lower ( that goes fro flood,drought, earthquake , wind storms as well ) , and we need to be looking at things like fire risk far more seriously in our planning for development and disaster management more carefully. The bigger picture I think is we need to look at the tar sand production and optimize this resource with an understanding of the environmental cost . Canada has an opportunity to control it carefully for revenues and utilize it to produce needed products rather than crappy disposable plastic stuff shipped back to us from asia. We are not going to stop consumption in its tracks and economically people are dependant on this industry far and wide but i do think it could be taken in hand and utilized better and instead of being a raw resource Canadians could benefit by utilizing it here to produce neccessary products for domestic use and export because I do believe our influence on the environment and subsequently climate , is one facet in this disasterous wildfire that simply has not been planned for , is not being looked at carefully enough nor brought up much in the conventional media and further impacts globally are not really factoring into the economic picture .
The social dynamic of the plight of those directly in this line of fire and the public response is immediately in front of us and foremost in importance but i hope that is not percieved as the the end of discussion.
I don't disagree with anything you have said. I only confined my response in a limited way, as I would be all over the place otherwise, though those discussions should happen.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.