Slave Lake braces for first anniversary of wildfire that devastated northern Alberta town

Exactly one year after a third of the northern Alberta town of Slave Lake was razed by a massive wildfire, the culprit thought to have started it has not been caught and conditions are ripe for another catastrophe.

The town is still rebuilding from the fire, which did $742 million in damage, the second biggest insurable disaster in Canada after the 1998 Quebec ice storm, the Toronto Star noted.

The blaze, thought to have been set deliberately a few kilometres outside town, tore through tinder-dry forest and into town on May 14, 2011 and burned for two days. The RCMP investigation remains open.

Some residents are still traumatized.

Michelle Malbeuf told The Canadian Press the smell of smoke, such as when firefighters set a controlled burn of dry grass near town, sends her heart racing and she has to remind herself not to panic.

Almost 400 buildings including homes, apartments, businesses, a new government building and three churches were reduced to ashes.

Although no one died, 734 families were left homeless.

Hundreds of the town's 6,800 residents are still living in temporary trailers. Only about 21 homes have been rebuilt and permits issued for 200 more.

Some, like Malbeuf, have moved into their new homes but are still trying to heal.

"People keep telling us this year and the next are going to be the hard years. It's like, really?" Malbeuf told The Canadian Press. "It's stages you have to go through. It's never going to be easy."

The Alberta government has committed $289 million to rebuilding the town, the Star reported.

The help started with cash grants for evacuees, many of whom fled without even their wallets and has extended to things like allowing the town to forgive taxes and providing temporary housing while homes were replaced, said the Edmonton Journal.

$125 million went for repairs to infrastructure and another $64 million for long-term recovery, including increased fire protection.

Other Alberta municipalities chipped in too, sending volunteer workers to help rebuild Slave Lake's records system.

"It was tremendous," said Karl Hill, Slave Lake's community services director. "It gave us the ability to breathe. It let people go home and sleep at night."

The town also got moral support from the highest reaches of the celebrity firmament.

At a U2 concert in Edmonton last June, lead singer Bono dedicated a song to Slave Lake, and country singer Paul Brandt played a benefit concert in town.

The high point undoubtedly was the July visit of Prince William and his new bride Catherine as part of their Canadian tour.

The couple's spokesman, Miguel Head emailed the Edmonton Journal recently saying they had sent a message to Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee asking how Slave Lake is doing now.

"It's fair to say that the duke and duchess would want their best wishes sent to the people of Slave Lake at this time," said Head.

The Cuthbert family rebuilt their home on the site of the one that burned to the ground.

"It's been the most challenging and frustrating year that you can ever imagine," Shelly Cuthbert told the Star. "It's just now you realize that everything is settling down."

But things don't look all that settled.

In parts of town, properties that escaped the fire sit next door to the scorched sites of destroyed homes.

The Canadian Red Cross sent out pamphlets to residents that the anniversary of the fire may be stressful — "anniversary syndrome," the agency calls it.

People may suffer headaches, stomach upset and have trouble sleeping. Children may act out or be clingy.

It's normal, Red Cross worker Kristy Harcourt said.

"I don't think anybody needs to get over it," she told The Canadian Press. "I think they need to work through it."

While residents face the anniversary, conditions are developing for new wildfires, QMI News Agency reported.

Alberta fire officials say forests north of Edmonton (Slave Lake is about 200 kilometres north of the capital) are extremely dry. The addition of low humidity and strong winds point to an early start to the summer fire season.