A Fort McMurray resident sent this dispatch to Jasperites trying to figure out next steps
Dear Jasper:
I’m so sorry for your losses. It is very, very difficult. Here are some thoughts that might be helpful at some point……
This is an emotional process. Give yourself room to cry, get upset, feel overwhelmed, receive support, get counselling, tell the story over and over. It’s intense and will be extremely intense for the whole town for the first year
Definitely say yes to everything that is offered– places to stay, food, clothing. It’s humbling and heartening to experience good will.
It’s very hard not knowing. Not knowing what is happening every minute with the fire, not knowing the exact damages, not knowing when you can get back into Jasper, not knowing what’s next and when. Communication comes in bits and pieces, and from all directions and none at times. Limbo is rough.
It will take four to five years for everything to be rebuilt. The first rebuilds were at least one year.
Be ready to go through multiple insurance adjusters. If you’re lucky you’ll get a sympathetic and capable one right away. But highly likely you’ll have to repeatedly call them, argue (nicely) with them, negotiate, ask for a new adjuster or just not hear from them for months and get assigned a new one anyway. Keep copies of all communications.
Insurance adjusters will be assigned very quickly to you. If your place is gone, you can start the process of listing contents right away. There was another excellent post about how to do this. There were complaints of different payouts. Just be honest and persistent.
People who’ve had their places burned to the ground have it the hardest emotionally. It’s a very tough loss. But people whose structures are “fine” but next to the burn areas will have a lot of damage that needs repairing: window seals that have been heat impacted, roofing tiles and insulation needing replacing. These drag out, and need a lot of negotiating with insurance. They may also lose all or many of their interior items from smoke damage. This can have a huge emotional impact. In worst cases you’ll wish it had just burnt down; with some structures it will simply be easier to start over.
The kids will be okay if you’re okay. But everyone will carry some trauma. It’s worth understanding trauma as you go through these next months: it’s the knee jerk reaction you’ll have to certain situations. Even just the experience of an emergency evacuation can be traumatic.
There is an “after” to all this. That’s hard to hear or believe in the middle of loss. But new houses and hotels will be built. It will be a lot of work, but they will look good and will still be Jasper and will make Jasper even better. The scorched trees will be hard to look at for the first few years. But in Fort McMurray now, eight years later, there is so much green and natural growth, it’s astounding. Nature will get busy right away growing things.
There will be a lot of disaster people coming in from all over the place: adjusters, restoration people, rug cleaners, builders. Hard to know who is reliable.
If your place wasn’t majorly impacted and insurance will pay for cleaning, you can get them to pay out to you on that and do the cleaning yourself or hire people to clean. It’s all cleanable. You’ll see lots of talk of how toxic the ash is, but ultimately it all just gets cleaned. Put on gloves and wash carefully.
Be careful of your relationships. Don’t let the stress get to you all.
It was surprising how many people didn’t come back to Fort McMurray after the fire.
It was a month before we were allowed back into Fort McMurray to see our houses. Evacuation is usually a several-week process. The fire usually isn’t instantly over; it takes time to ensure the area is safe. They need time to take care of it, and people just get in the way. They also had to make sure there was infrastructure for returnees: stores with food, functioning electricity, potable water, functioning hospital. If everything ground to a halt and was turned off (for example, gas through the town) it can take time to get it functioning again.
If your electricity was off for an extended period of time in an otherwise fine house, you’ll likely need a new fridge/freezer. Possibly a new washing machine if you had a load in (mildew). There will be a lot of dumpsters and dead appliances on the sidewalks for awhile.
The faster you get started the faster it gets done
You’ll get tired of the word “resilient”
Take days off, get away, take a break from the stress, take a break from the news
There will be times when you’re not okay, and that’s okay too. That might be now and/or might be later. There will be times where it feels like it will never be over. It’s a lengthy process.
There are a wide range of experiences and reactions. Some people will lose everything, some nothing. Some will want to talk a lot, some will not want to hear anything more about it. It’s worthwhile allowing everyone their experience and responses.
Ultimately, you will be okay. Everyone will be okay. The artists will make art, the story tellers will write stories, the photographers will gather photos, the cleaners will clean, builders will build, new things will be gathered, new homes created, new memories and mementos made, nature will instantly pop up flowers amongst the char.
You will be okay.
