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The Black Swan

How industry played a pivotal role in the biggest wildfire and urban interface emergency in Canadian history

By Carly Peters

C lark Esler, manager of regional emergency management (fire chief) for Suncor Energy Inc., was in a training activity on the north side of Fort McMurray when a bunch of his colleagues started getting alarming text messages from family: “MANDATORY EVACUATION.” Up until then, the wildfires crackling at the edge of town had already been deemed dangerous enough to put some neighbourhoods on 30-minute evacuation notice. But on Tuesday, May 3, Fort McMurray was sent into upheaval when the wildfire, fuelled by strong wind, overwhelmed crews and sent its 80,000 inhabitants fleeing north and south. As people started to move up Alberta Highway 63, Esler’s first instinct was to ensure his three kids and wife were on their way out of town. Luckily, they had packed some items in two vehicles and were already heading north. His next priority was getting back to Suncor’s plant, which had already set up a Stage 3 emergency operations centre, to assess the situation’s impact on their oilsands operation and

receive the influx of displaced residents who had nowhere else to go but the oilsands’ camps. As traffic slowed to a crawl along the four-lane highway, Esler saw the mutual aid partners — Suncor, Horizon Oil Sands, Shell Albian Sands, and Syncrude — heading into town to support the regional fire department. According to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the emergency services mutual aid partnerships serving the area can be described as a natural outcome of the “neighbours helping neighbours” code that distinguishes remote residential and industrial communities of the north. With the next major population area to Fort McMurray four hours south, when a significant fire, hazardous spill or major motor vehicle collision occurs, when lives are at stake and when residential properties or industrial sites are threatened, that’s when the mutual aid partners activate their resources and roll into action to reduce harm and minimize and mitigate the hazard. On this day, the risk was like no one had ever seen.