A wildfire burned about one-third of Slave Lake in northern Alberta in May 2011. Nearly 400 homes and businesses, including an apartment complex, were reduced to ash and rubble when fierce winds whipped flames through town with little warning.

Here are five things we’ve learned about that fire 10 years ago:

How did the wildfire happen?

The Slave Lake wildfire burned through the town from May 14 to May 16, 2011.

Officials with the Alberta government announced in November 2011 that an unknown arsonist recklessly or deliberately ignited the forest fire.

Damages were pegged at $700 million – one of the country’s costliest disasters.

How long did it take to clean up?

Mayor Tyler Warman says many milestones were reached within two years.

The government centre and about 80 per cent of homes were rebuilt. But Warman says it took another four years to finish roads and sidewalks.

“We waited a couple years for people to finish construction.”

Warman says there was a list of projects and they slowly checked them off.

“When I look around the community, I see things rebuilt. I see new investment. I see new businesses.”

READ MORE: Ten years later: Former Slave Lake mayor remembers wildfire that burned through town

How did it affect the town’s residents?

Warman says the population hasn’t changed a whole lot since the fire.

The No. 1 factor that saved the community, he says, was temporary housing that was built for residents while they rebuilt their homes.

“It was the difference between success and failure. Without it, we would have been decimated.”

Warman says some single people and young couples who were living in the apartment complex left, but school enrolment numbers were steady the next fall.

“There was a pretty strong indication that the people were still here.”

Research done after the fire showed some residents with psychological stress symptoms – particularly children. The study suggested children involved in disasters be offered counselling and assistance in recovery.

What have we learned about wildfires?

Mike Flannigan, a renewable resources professor at the University of Alberta, says the Slave Lake fire has left a legacy.

“Fire management in Canada is among the best in the world and Alberta is among the best in Canada,” he says. “What has become clear is that events like Slave Lake aren’t isolated events.

“One of the politicians of the day was in the paper saying it was a one-off. It was a fluke. It won’t happen again. I said the day after … expect more events like this, unfortunately.’

“It’s all about the extreme conditions.”

He says the fires in Slave Lake, Fort McMurray, Alta., and Kelowna, B.C., led to politicians paying attention.

Did anything change afterward?

Flannigan says there has been more federal funding for wildfire research.

“Things have changed, but we still need to do more,” he says. “It’s not going away with climate change.”

He says more structures will be at risk if development continues in the boreal forest.

Warman adds those developments need to be prepared for emergencies and for recovery after disasters.

“A good plan is better than a quick plan.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2021.

Karina Pillay remembers everything about the wildfire. She remembers the chaos the day it hit. The fireballs falling around the town’s government building. The traffic gridlock as flames blocked the roads.

“It was such a life-changing experience,” the former Slave Lake mayor said in an interview from Calgary, where she now works as a family doctor.

“You just can’t forget those vivid images in your head.”

Pillay was in her third term as mayor when the wildfire burned about one-third of the northern Alberta town 10 years ago this month.

Nearly 400 homes and businesses, including an apartment complex, were reduced to ash and rubble when fierce winds whipped the fire through town with little warning.

“Things changed so quickly,” recalled Pillay, who noted she was meeting with the fire chief and other council members at the newly built government building to talk about the fire when it hit town.

“Someone said, ‘Your roof is on fire.”’

As everyone fled the building, fireballs were falling from the sky, Pillay said.

Most residents had just minutes to flee. Communications went down and traffic became gridlocked.

“Lots of things started to fail for us,” said Pillay. “Thankfully we were able to get everyone out.”

No one from town was injured other than scrapes and minor burns, but 2,000 people were left homeless. The government building, including the library, was lost.

Damages were pegged at $700 million – one of the country’s costliest disasters.

CTV News Edmonton File Photo

Pillay, who had lived in Slave Lake since she was a baby, spent the next two years working around the clock along with many others to start rebuilding the community.

“We didn’t sleep much,” she said with a laugh. “Long hours, lots of meetings. It was pretty intense. Pretty intense at first. I don’t think I had a break in a year.

“Our council was unbelievable. Half my council lost their homes, and they were still there in meetings, on the night they lost their homes, right from the get-go.”

CTV News Edmonton File Photo

About two months after the fire, Prince William and his wife Kate, who were on a cross-Canada tour, made an impromptu visit to show their support.

“They were so genuine and caring and personable,” said Pillay, who took them on a tour of the damage.

The Alberta government announced in November 2011 that an unknown arsonist had recklessly or deliberately ignited the forest fire. No one was ever charged.

Pillay left to attend medical school a few months before Alberta’s 2013 municipal elections.

“We had all the good planning in place and I didn’t want to have any regrets in life,” she said. “In the back of my mind, medicine has always been something that fascinated me.

“I studied for that entrance exam when I was mayor in the summer.”

She did her medical school training as her hometown continued to rebuild.

Tyler Warman, who was a town councillor and volunteer firefighter in 2011, was elected as the next mayor and still holds that position.

“It’s the whole mentality of let’s roll up our sleeves and get it done,” he said.

He said recovery was in good shape two years after the fire, but it took several more years before everything started to change.

Crews work to shut off gas and water in a burned-out neighbourhood in Slave Lake, Alta., on Wednesday, May 18, 2011. Almost all of Slave Lakes’s 7,000 residents fled Sunday in the face of a forest fire that eventually destroyed about a third of the town (The Canadian Press/Ian Jackson)

“Recovery is a long-distance game and it takes a lot out of you.”

Warman said he couldn’t be more proud of how the community handled the crisis.

“Within a couple of years, literally 80 per cent of the homes were rebuilt,” he said. “We waited a couple years to let everyone do the construction … then we had $30 million of road rehab and sidewalk rehab.

“Around year six, we looked back and said we’re checking all the boxes here.”

Warman said there are still signs of the fire – smaller trees, newer buildings – but the town has mostly rebounded.

There were some long-term effects. Researchers have looked at everything from how children responded to the fire to ways to better prepare towns near forests to deal with fire safety.

Slave Lake’s population has dropped slightly since the fire, but Warman said most residents came back – at least until some left years later during an economic downturn in the oil and gas industry.

“You lose some great people along the way.”

Pillay, who’s now on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, said she’s in touch with her friends who live in Slave Lake and they often reminisce about the community’s resilience.

“What we did was just incredible,” she said, “to get our citizens back into that community and, then after, the hard work we did.”

Dr. Karina Pillay, the former mayor of Slave Lake, is shown at her medical clinic in Calgary, Alta., Friday, April 16, 2021. Pillay remembers everything about the Slave Lake wildfire (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

She hasn’t been back to see the completion of projects, but said she’ll always have fond memories – and a constant reminder – of her time as Slave Lake’s mayor.

“Council, as my parting gift, gave me an engraved stethoscope. It has my name on it,” said Pillay.

“I still use it … so I have a piece of Slave Lake with me all the time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2021.

EDMONTON — The total number of active cases in Alberta is growing as the third wave continues to spike.

In a limited update delivered Saturday on Twitter, Dr. Deena Hinshaw said the province completed over 18,800 tests and identified another 2,042 infections – the fifth highest amount of cases reported in one day since the pandemic began.

The province’s positivity rate is now 11 per cent after it spiked at 13.2 per cent on May 2.

There are now 661 people in hospital, including 148 in ICU.

The Calgary and Edmonton zones lead hospitalizations with 241 and 238 people, respectively.

The North zone has 93 hospitalizations while the Central zone has 55 and the South zone has 34.

Both Edmonton and Calgary zones have 57 people in ICU while the North zone has 18. The Central and South zone have nine and seven people in ICU, respectively.

Two additional Albertans died from COVID-19, raising the province’s total number of deaths to 2,108 people.

Over 1.53 million Albertans have received one vaccine dose while approximately 314,504 people are fully immunized – roughly 6.9 per cent.

The Calgary zone leads the province with over 11,178 active cases. The Edmonton zone has 5,900 while the North zone has 3,780. The Central zone has 2,917 active cases of COVID-19 while the South zone has 1,355. Twenty-five cases have an unknown zone of origin.

The North zone had the highest amount of new cases since the last update on Friday, with 127 reported cases.

The Calgary zone gained 115 new cases of COVID-19, while Edmonton had 74 new cases since Friday. The Central and South zone had 57 and 20 new infections, respectively.

The R-value average for the province is 1.12. Values over one indicate COVID-19 continues to spread.

The Edmonton zone’s R-value is 0.99 while Calgary’s is 1.16. The rest of Albert has a value of 1.18.

 

EDMONTON — A drive-thru event on Saturday gave kids the chance to treat their moms in advance of Mother’s Day.

Kids from single-parent homes were allowed to shop free of charge for items from Kaleo Collective to gift their mothers.

The event, now in its sixth year, gave moms a care package to enjoy at home as well.

Layna Haley, executive director and founder of Kaleo Collective, said she never expected to be doing the Love Your Mamma event outside during a pandemic – twice.

“But here we are,” she said.

“There is no greater joy for us as an organization than to help a child give back to their mom at Mother’s Day.”

Haley added that the event always receives an overwhelming amount of community and support.

“We see a lot of watery eyes today,” she added. “The moms are really touched.”

“The kids love picking gifts for their mom. It’s so fun for them to get to come in their little shop and look around.”

The event is supported by many local businesses who donate gifts for the kids to choose from, including The Body Shop, Saltwater Bay Boutique, and Socrates Restaurant. This year was extra special because an Edmonton local mom and her daughter assembled 75 handmade gifts for the event, Haley said.

“Both the single mom and community-at-large really come together to put this event on,” she said.

Erin Prefontaine heard about the event from a friend last year and has been coming ever since.

“This was just super helpful,” she said. “It gives the kids an outlet… to contribute to their moms.”

Erin said her son Sterling loves to come and get a gift to present to his mom.

“If there isn’t a co-parent or another adult in their lives who can help them contribute to their moms, this is fabulous for them,” she added. “Especially during COVID.”

According to Haley 115 people took part in the event Saturday.

Kaleo Collective is a community group for single mothers that provides resources and support.

CALGARY — Calgary police have arrested two men, identified as organizers of a gathering that was in violation of Alberta’s public health orders.

Officials say Artur Pawlowski and Dawid Pawlowski were arrested and charged with organizing an illegal in-person gathering, including requesting, inciting or inviting others to attend an illegal public gathering, promoting and attending an illegal public gathering.

Police say the pair acknowledged an injunction, obtained by Alberta Health Services from the Court of Queen’s Bench on May 6, but chose to ignore the health guidelines just the same.

The court order installed new restrictions on organizers of protests and demonstrations requiring compliance with public health orders including masking, physical distancing and attendance limits.

It also provides police with enforcement powers, including the power to arrest organizers of these illegal gatherings.

Despite the situation, police want to remind the public that they do have a right to attend a religious gathering and engage in peaceful protest, but the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and rules must be acknowledged.

“We continue to ask those who may be considering organizing or participating in any outdoor events to ensure they are familiar with public health order requirements and to do their part to prevent further spread of the virus,” police wrote in a statement.

Calgary police add the order was served prior to the church service and at no time did any officers enter the building.

Prior to his arrest, Dawid Pawlowski spoke with CTV News and expressed his frustration with public health measures

“They’re destroying people’s lives, they’re telling me when I can worship God, which God I can worship,” Pawlowski said.

“This is not about safety, this is about destroying your heritage, this is about destroying Judeo-Christian values because you know how many people were in mosques during Ramadan? Thousands.”

Pawlowski added that his church gatherings were minimal compared to larger groups of Calgarians gathering to shop at big box grocery or department stores.

In a statement issued to CTV News on Friday, Alberta Health Services says it was fully aware of the protest organized by the Pawlowski brothers.

“With COVID-19 cases increasing, including the more easily transmitted and potentially more severe variants, we strongly encourage all Albertans to follow public health orders to help minimize spread to protect others.”

DOVER RESIDENTS UPSET WITH LARGE GATHERINGS

Meanwhile, residents in the southeast Calgary community are upset because of the situation.

Pawlowski’s organization, known as The Cave of Adullam congregation, has been gathering weekly at a daycare and preschool building located on 26 Avenue S.E., to practice their faith.

Despite the Alberta government placing a limit of 15 in-person attendees for places of worship, upwards of 50 people gathered Saturday.

Area resident Chaz Smith says many people attending church services in the area have been leaving behind excessive amounts of trash, blocking roads, climbing onto fences and disturbing the peace.

“It hurts to see this and I don’t understand how you can be alive today and not acknowledge the suffering that COVID has brought,” Smith said.

“I know way too many people my age that have had COVID now and were hospitalized in their 30s, I have a friend right now who has numbness and tingling on half of her face and she had just a mild case, while I have another friend whose hair is falling out.”

Other residents, like Barbara Anderson, agree that those who attend large gatherings are showing little respect for the public health system.

“They come in here, they don’t wear their masks,” she said. “I’ve got a great nephew that I haven’t seen yet and it’s not going to get any better unless they start complying with the law.”

“It is a huge slap in the face and I wish that they would get that, it’s hurting a lot of people, a lot of people are having their businesses closed down because of people like that.”

‘SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT’

While many neighbours express their dismay over weekly church gatherings, those attending the service say they have every right to gather in person.

Mayoral candidate Kevin J. Johnston says Canada was built on Judeo-Christian values and practicing his faith with others is essential to the mental health of the greater community.

“I’ve got the government telling me that I cannot spend time with people I know, love and respect which is completely outside of the Charter and the constitution and completely illegal so I’m here in defiance of that and I’m always going to defy any legal order from any level of government,” Johnston said.

Church goer Daniel Wygle has also expressed his opinion that the Canadian government has failed to provide any evidence behind the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

He notes that many of his peers are struggling and youth suicide rates are going up in the midst of living in isolation.

“This is Canada, this is supposed to be land of the free where you are allowed to choose, correct? Then why are these churches being shut down? We should have the right to be able to practice our faith.”