Fire forces evacuation of Slave Lake, surrounding communities

[TrogL]

Source: Global TV Edmonton

Slave Lake residents were urged to flee their homes Sunday and gather on beaches and parking lots as a pair of wildfires beared-down on the northern Alberta town.

The town issued an evacuation order Sunday evening, but with highways closed, they urged the roughly 7,000 residents to make their way to safe spots in the town.

“Fire has breached the Town of Slave Lake Boundary along the southern portion,” the town’s website read in bold red letters. “Please move toward large green areas, beaches or large parking lots like Walmart, Canadian Tire, or the Sawridge Mall Parking Lot.

Read more: http://www.globaltvedmonton.com/Fire+forces+evacuation+Slave+Lake+surrounding+communities/4787629/story.html

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I've been in the building shown.

Slave Lake is a major forestry town.

[grasswire]

1. drought?

or what?

[hatrack]

4. Apparently - from the article:

Slave Lake was the epicentre of a forest fire outbreak that swept through the province on the weekend, driven by high winds. About 80 fires were burning Sunday evening, a few dozen of them out of control, Mr. Knight said. Many of them were started within the past day or two. The sources are unknown, but dry conditions, high winds and warm weather all helped flames spread.

[TrogL]

6. 100 kpm winds are hardly "high"

My house in being renovated and 4*8 sheets of plywood were being tossed around my back yard.

A driver was killed when his car, a Mustang, was simply blown off the road and rolled multiple times.

[opihimoimoi]

2. K&R Hey there.....LTNS.....hope all is well......stay safe..... :o) Opi

[hermetic]

3. No injuries

BUT

"The damage is catastrophic. Hundreds of homes, churches and businesses in the northern Alberta town have been destroyed. So too has the town hall and radio station. The power’s out, cell phone service has been spotty, and 7,000 residents have been forced to flee through a single road, the only highway open as fires rage on all sides."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/change-in-winds-caused-chaos-for-fire-devastated-slave-lake-alta/article2022761/

[TrogL]

5. Video and pictures

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/slave-lake-fire/#clip467535

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/05/your-pictures-of-the-slave-lake-fire.html#igImgId_7266

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/prairies/slave-lake-reeling-as-alberta-wildfires-cause-devastating-destruction/article2023343/

[grasswire]

7. why is the place called "slave lake"?

I'm curious about the northern part of the province. It must be very different from southern Alberta.

[Igel]

8. Because the Slavey (formerly "Slave") nation lived around it.

Athapaskan first peoples, often taken as slaves by the Cree. So the Cree name for them was just the Cree word for "slave," which was dutifully translated into English as, well, "slave." Why have a clunky Cree word when you can just translate it?

So they were the Slave Indians.

You could say that perhaps we should have used their own name for themselves. Their own name was non-distinctive. It would be the same for 20 or 30 different nations. Useless as a moniker.

"Slave" pronounced "slayv" was eventually viewed as offensive, so people (mostly linguists, I gather) took to pronouncing it as "slay-vee" or "slay-vey". Eventually they updated the spelling to Slavey. The lake names weren't updated.

It's jut a reminder that pre-contact North American indigenous peoples weren't all living in peace and happiness.

[SpiralHawk]

9. First Nations weren't having Inquistions or organized Altar Boy buggery either

just as a reminder...

[grasswire]

10. veddy interesting

I am so curious about all things in that part of the continent.