# Ft. Mac and the aftermath of the great fire



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Starting a new thread here..for discussion of the aftermath of the Ft. MacMurray wildfire and what it means to the economy of Alberta.

1. The thousands of hectares of scorched forest. What happens to this, will there be a provincial program to replant all this area with new seedlings?

2. Loss of habitat for many wild animals Will there be any plan to provide a habitat for deer, moose, bears and others?

3. The rebuild of the homes and businesses destroyed. This will no doubt be a massive rebuild similar to other disaster areas and that should spur the economy providing work for carpenters and other workmen.

4. All the burned out vehicles, appliances, etc. Large scale clean up. Businesses that specialize in this will be very busy.

5. Infrastructure...roads, perhaps sewers, gas mains, electrical grid, telephone communication will all have to be rebuilt.

6. Resupply of businesses that might still be considered operation and relatively unscathed by the fire.

7. Resupply of homes with new appliances, tvs electronics, furniture.

8. Replacement of vehicles that were insured and burned out.

9. Restoration projects (parks, sports facilities etc)

10. Construction of a massive fire break around the city.

11. transport companies kept very busy hauling goods and construction materials.

12. Construction employment for those who are unemployed.


All of this restoration effort will stimulate the local economies and even the economies of suppliers in larger centres such as Calgary and Edmonton.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Absolutely. I am extremely optimistic about Ft. Mac's future. This fire has given my daughter and son in law the impetus to move back to Ft. Mac from Edmonton.

Not certain about the construction of an improved fire break. This fire was at the mercy of the weather-the heat, the low humidity, lightning strikes, and most especially the wind. Ft. Mac has a natural fire break on one side at least, the river and valley, which is a few k's wide in some areas. The wind caused the fire to easily jump this natural fire break. The wind is the reason why in this boreal forest so many other sub fires have started.

One good thing. The new road improvements, with a twinned highway, are just about complete.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We were in Viet Nam last month. One of the many interesting places we visited was Dalat. It is a hilly area where they grow coffee, flowers, and grapes(vineyards).

When we arrived in the afternoon the air was filled with smoke and haze. I thought that the farmers may be burning old vines etc or some other endeavor. Next day we did a private tour. We went over a forested area in a cable car and noticed that the ground was scorched. The evergreens were blackened by fire at the bottom of the trunk. Tt looked like the remains of a forest fire to us.

I asked our guide about this. He said that they burn the forest floor every year at this time in this area in order to prevent forest fires. Not suggesting this for the thousands of K in Canada's northern forests but we did find his information interesting.


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## RCB (Jan 11, 2014)

> 1. The thousands of hectares of scorched forest. What happens to this, will there be a provincial program to replant all this area with new seedlings?


Not necessary. The spruce that make up the boreal forest in the area REQUIRE fire to pop the cones open and release seed. There will be a lot of regrowth with no human intervention.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Maybe this was the ndp's idea of diversifying the Alberta economy...

But seriously, forest fires happen all the time in he west and north. 1000's of acres are destroyed every year, but you only really hear about it if a major town is hit like fort McMurray or that other one in Alberta 5 years ago.

From what the news said, that town 5 years ago is about 90% rebuilt now, but I think the fort will be faster.

For one thing, many of the "houses" we're actually trailers. Those don't have to be rebuilt, just clean up the area and start hauling new ones back up. It'll take time, but not as much as building a new house.

Insurance will be hit hard, but all the vehicles, tv's and other toys will quickly be replaced when the money starts to flow. Remember, this is only a town of 80,000 which was mainly supplied by Edmonton anyway (who has a population of over 1M in the greater area), I doubt there will be any real problems other than transportation back up, but that is normal operations anyway.

There are currently a lot of skilled people unemployed in Alberta because of the drop in oil, and there is a lot of money in the Fort sitting in the ground. If the oil priced rise, Alberta will miss the boat as production is offline so I'd bet the money will pour in to get things rebuilt quickly.

As for nature reserves and stuff, I doubt anything will happen. This is a routine, natural event and, even though it's a huge area affected, I don't think many people actually understand how much land is really out there. As bad as this was, there is still 1000's of acres that haven't been touched, and whole areas that are also on fire nearly the same size. Last year they also had huge fires that devastated the farming community across bc, Alberta and Saskatchewan...it barely made the news. People generally can't imagine the scale of these things...both in their impact, as well as their relative insignificance. 

My bet is, for the next few years, there will be hyper paranoia on fire issues with early evacuations, then everything will go back to the way it was...similar to when that other town burnt down 5 years earlier...not a lot seemed to have changed when it came to this fire.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

And once those cones have popped , the charred ground is the ideal fertilizer for the seeds. Natural regeneration.

The insurance industry has already been hard hit in Alberta. In Calgary it was not just the flood. The hail claims for home siding, windows, roofs etc as well as automobiles have been significant over the past few years. One of our friends has had her siding replaced twice by her insurance company, her roof once over the past five years. House insurance premiums have increased significantly. No doubt they will increase across the province as a result of the massive Ft. Mac claims.


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## heyjude (May 16, 2009)

Forest fires are natural phenomena, a part of the cycle of creative destruction. The forest will regenerate itself over time. As for rebuilding, the lower price of oil means that the new Fort Mac may be smaller. It may be a good opportunity for urban planning.


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## twa2w (Mar 5, 2016)

Already seeing ads from agencies to hire people to do clean up. 2 weeks in, 1 week out. 10-12 hrs a day, 14 to16 $ an hour. 
Transportation by bus from Edmonton and room and board provided. Not sure how soon this will start or last.
Bring your own steel toed boots. Other safety equip provided.

I imagine a lot of the houses that were undamaged by fire will still trigger insurance claims. Water damage from the firefighting effort, smoke damage to anything inside like upholstered furniture, carpets, clothes, beds etc. The smoke smell can be very difficult to remove. Even the drywall etc can take a a smell.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

twa2w said:


> Already seeing ads from agencies to hire people to do clean up. 2 weeks in, 1 week out. 10-12 hrs a day, 14 to16 $ an hour.
> Transportation by bus from Edmonton and room and board provided. Not sure how soon this will start or last.
> Bring your own steel toed boots. Other safety equip provided.
> 
> I imagine a lot of the houses that were undamaged by fire will still trigger insurance claims. Water damage from the firefighting effort, smoke damage to anything inside like upholstered furniture, carpets, clothes, beds etc. The smoke smell can be very difficult to remove. Even the drywall etc can take a a smell.


I suppose if you can look at a disaster from a positive angle, it will create jobs for a little while, where perhaps there wasn't any.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

My brother in Alberta mentioned that Rachel Notely and her NDP gov't could be in some kind of jeopardy on the next
election for cutting the fire fighting provincial budget. 



> Published on *Mon May 02 2016*
> 
> The province is defending cuts to its wildfire management budget as flames threaten Fort McMurray.
> 
> ...


Sounds like the firefighting budget was cut pre maturely...what is that old saying/ 'penny wise and pound foolish'?


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## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

My cousin and his wife have lost their home and they are about 3 years from retirement ,even though they could probably take the insurance payout when everything settles they are more determined than ever to rebuild and probably stay a bit longer now.Back in our small town in Newfoundland we know of 18 families now who lost their home completely and a similar number who no doubt has smoke damage etc to deal with.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

fraser said:


> Absolutely. I am extremely optimistic about Ft. Mac's future. This fire has given my daughter and son in law the impetus to move back to Ft. Mac from Edmonton.
> 
> Not certain about the construction of an improved fire break. This fire was at the mercy of the weather-the heat, the low humidity, lightning strikes, and most especially the wind. Ft. Mac has a natural fire break on one side at least, the river and valley, which is a few k's wide in some areas. The wind caused the fire to easily jump this natural fire break. The wind is the reason why in this boreal forest so many other sub fires have started.
> 
> One good thing. The new road improvements, with a twinned highway, are just about complete.


My brother who lives in the Peace River district (Peace River/Fairview/Grande Prairie) on the same latitude, mentioned this morning that the ash fallout from the Ft.Mac wildfire had settled on his car like 'snow". 

With ash carried so high up in the atmosphere, no wonder a monster fire like this one can jump easily into other areas. 
If enough cinders stay hot enough after being dispersed, then new fires can start easily.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

House building costs, landscaping etc will escalate rapidly. many opportunists will start up. There will be lots of price gouging as its "insurance money" There will also be a lot of substandard work done.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Mechanic said:


> House building costs, landscaping etc will escalate rapidly. many opportunists will start up. There will be lots of price gouging as its "insurance money" There will also be a lot of substandard work done.


That has more to do with inflated housing prices before the "oil price crunch" hit the tar sands. 

Insurance companies will probably rebuild up to a certain standard of living similar to what was there before. 
Labour and material prices being what they are already, will no doubt increase quite a bit after this. 
So will insurance premiums on all housing, not just the rebuilt. 

I suspect that we all will be paying higher insurance premiums upon renewal or next year. The insurance industry will try to mitigate their losses by spreading it out amongst all it's insured clients to carry the losses.


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