Social disaster from Alberta wildfire product

of capitalism

BY JOE YOUNG

EDMONTON, Alberta — A massive wild fire destroyed a major part of Fort McMurray, 270 miles north of here, and forced the emergency evacuation of the entire population of 88,000. Fire is a natural and regular occurrence in this region. But its devastating impact on tens of thousands of working people is a man-made disaster, the result of decisions by the bosses and government that put profits ahead of human life.

Estimated losses are 9 billion Canadian dollars (about US$6.9 billion), with 2,400 homes and other structures destroyed. As of May 9 the fire was still burning outside the city.

Fort McMurray is the main town in Alberta’s oil sands region. Its population has grown rapidly since the late 1990s alongside the boom in oil production. Despite being surrounded by forest, neither the state nor local governments had made adequate preparations for protecting the city from fire.

The fire began to threaten the city on May 1. Authorities abruptly declared a mandatory evacuation the afternoon of May 3. Highway 63, the one route through town, rapidly became gridlocked. After flames jumped the road, some people were directed north and the bulk toward the south.

“It took almost 18 hours to get out,” Carra-Danielle Gaba told the Militant at the Northlands Expo Centre where hundreds of evacuees are being housed in Edmonton. Gaba works in administration in an oil camp and has a small child. “We ran out of gas twice. In all the small communities, people had jerry cans, handing us food, diapers and toys. There was no proper communication on how serious the situation was.”

“The cars were cooking in the middle of hell,” said Brad Pollard, who works in transit. “There is only one way in and out.” For years there has been discussion about the need to build a second highway, but no action.

Workers in the Fort McMurray area had already been heavily hit by the downturn in the oil industry. Unemployment in Alberta has risen to 7.2 percent from 5.6 percent a year ago, largely because layoffs in the oil patch. In Fort McMurray the official rate was 9.8 percent before the fire. Oil companies expect to further cut production by 1 million barrels a day in the wake of the fire.

Alberta Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier said May 4 that he didn’t think recent cuts by the provincial government, roughly CA$15 million from fire prevention and fire fighting, had any impact on the disaster.

Some evacuees and others have raised the need for firebreaks to make it more difficult for forest fires to enter the town. “The place was a fire trap. I could hop off my balcony into the brush,” said Louis Barham, an education assistant who has lived six years in Fort McMurray.

“They should surround the town with cut trees – 50 meters,” said Oye Beavogui, who builds scaffolding for an oil company.

Some workers are discussing rebuilding the town. Gaba told the Militant, “People want to rebuild. Groups are trying to get crews together.”

“There are many workers who could work on cleanup and rebuilding. Unions should fight for the government to organize a massive project at union rates of pay,” said Katy LeRougetel, Communist League member, talking with a group of evacuees at the Northlands Centre.

Monica Coombs, who is originally from Newfoundland, proudly replied that she is a member of both Labourers’ Union Local 92 and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 955. Her husband, Winston Welsh, a trucker, said, “It’s not, ‘We want to come back.’ We are coming back to help rebuild Fort Mac — our home.”

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