My Time in Fort Mac - Part 5 - Truck Woes

Lynda Klouth is the new publisher for the BKC News Bytes, Grande Prairie & Region.

She is the gal who without hesitation volunteered her truck and travel trailer and herself as the driver to get supplies up to Fort Mac's first Responders.

 Lynda was a day later getting back to Fort Mac than she wanted to be.

She had taken her truck into GP Chrysler because it had been running so badly the last
150 K into Fort Mac and it did not improve on the way back to Grande Prairie either.

GP Chrysler changed the fuel filters, oil and filter and a headlight for her for free for what she was doing to help the fire fighters and other first responders.

At one point on that first trip in, the truck "ran out of fuel" in spite of it having a full slip tank to draw from.

We sat for a while and some gents came over to see if they could help.
After a few minutes the truck started up again but failed a little ways up the road. These same folks followed us for a while, good thing too. It was odd, we thought there must be an air bubble in the system and or a plugged fuel filter.

The truck started up, ran about 5 miles and quit again.

After checking everything that could be checked, we started the truck up and the fuel gauge started registering fuel and while the truck seemed to be revving awfully high about 2,200 RPM when it should have been down around 1,900 - it seemed to run not too bad.

After we got done feeding RCMP officers on the highway and the fire was a bit more under control along the hi-way we headed into Mac Island.  Lynda and I worked through the first 5 or six hours and when Jeremy came up he had picked up a filter for Lynda's truck and attempted to change the one.

Things did not go as planned and so I got about a two hour nap in and then Lynda took one for about 4 hours before she headed for Grande Prairie. She had left about 7 pm on Thursday May 5th.
She arrived back on Saturday May 7th in the early morning, about 6 am.

Saturday was a hectic day. There were so many new crews coming in and crews going home.

Lynda had brought in some much needed supplies for people and we had gone around to each fire rig and made sure every truck had electrolytes (Hydralyte) and every fire fighter who had complained about their feet had the supplies they needed be they insoles, Gold Bond Powder, Moleskin etc.
We delivered tobacco to a few, gum to others and made sure everyone possible was stocked up.

She also told me of her harrowing trip back, with a sick truck and a tunnel of fire she had to drive through.  When she left Mac Island, she stopped at the road block and the RCMP had told her the road was good. But, by the time she was 60 Kms away from the Anzac road block (about 75k out of Fort Mac) there was fire on both sides of the road and the ditch in the middle. She said she had never been so scared in her whole life.  I can't freaking imagine how scary that combination of sick truck and a tunnel of fire must have been - words absolutely escape me.

Poor Lynda, Her truck, her new to her truck that she paid really good money for was sounding very sick.

She and her daughter and son in law basically unloaded, handed out supplies and then they had to head out.  She needed to limp her truck back to Grande Prairie Chrysler where her Bulldog Computer was diagnosed as a fail.

I worried about them on this trip back and was relieved when I got her text message that she had finally made it home a 7.5 hour trip took them over 11 to complete.

The bill was not covered by the extended warranty she had purchased with the truck.

Although GP Chrysler did discount the bill it still cost Lynda $1,500 + tax out of her pocket.
Money this small business owner really didn't have to spare.

Her truck was finally repaired late in the week and so that was the end of Lynda's journeys with us.

I wrote a letter to the dealership and asked them to make a plea to Chrysler Canada but as I write this I have heard nothing back.  If I had the money, I would just give her the money, but I don't so we are going to figure out a small fundraiser for her.

Saturday was also an emotional day for me as Jim from Leduc Fire Department had presented me with a stuffed dalmatian fire dog to thank me for being there for them throughout the last few days.

Glenn Chaulk from Syncrude had come over with his crew and presented me with his personal challenge coin - again to thank me for the work I had done feeding these guys while Lynda was on the road.

The only real relief I had from manning that booth after Lynda left on the 5th was a gal named Jasmine Hale, who took over for me for about a half 3/4's of an hour...maybe a bit longer she made sandwiches while I made coffee and straightened up the line and got some supper myself. Other than that the breaks I took where when either Matt, Jody or Jeremy could cover me for bathroom breaks and naps.

Saturday afternoon, Kevin O'Conner and some Peace Officer & Sheriff friends along with employees of A1 Rentals pulled in with the produce and supplies they had brought in.

Later on in the evening two ladies, Brittany Cardle (R) and Becca Hess (L) arrived to give me a hand.  I was grateful to have some hands and did my best to show them what needed to be done.  I got some much needed sleep on my cot, snuggled up with my firehouse puppy.

After a hot shower in the morning, I checked on the gals, Becca was manning the booth and Brittany was sleeping in her Jeep.

With everything under control, I decided to let Will sleep in. I headed towards the gymnasium and with Dennis's help got Mother's Day breakfast started.

We had all these glorious farm fresh eggs, sausage, potatoes and onions, pancake mix and syrup and I was determined we were going to have a great breakfast.

Dennis sliced potatoes and onions, I was on sausage detail getting as many pre-cooked and on the warmers as possible, and attempting to prevent hash browns from burning when Matt from the Edmonton Fire Department came up and offered a hand.
Now many years ago when I was a young girl, I dated a captain from Fire Hall # 3 in Edmonton, and I came to know that Fire Fighters tend to be pretty damned fine cooks.


I wasn't going to turn down his offer of help as people were already starting to line up and Jody was busy getting coffee ready and putting other breakfast items out on the table in front of the BBQ...

Matt made up the first bowl of pancake batter, I started cracking eggs for scrambled eggs and we took turns manning the sausage and hash browns .  Another Edmonton Fire Fighter, whose name I can not for the life of me remember, came over and offered a hand after teasing Matt.

With the three of us just rocking it on the BBQ's were were keeping up pretty good with the line up of hungry people looking for breakfast!
Jeremy Hall came over and pretty soon, I was pushed out of the breakfast "pit"as we called it, by Matt, Jeremy and the other fire fighter, they said it was because I was a mother too and I should go enjoy breakfast.

How thoughtful - all of the lady fire fighters and police officers were truly appreciative of this very sweet gesture.

At about 15 to 10am we got hit with RAIN! It only lasted about 45 minutes but My word were we all happy to get some...but the scrambling began to move the quick line inside.

It was shortly after this that my time on Mac Island became more than a tad unsettling.

Someone had taken my stuffed dalmatian - the one Jim had given me.

I had left him safely tucked in under my blankets on my cot and a trucker driver had helped me move my cot indoors and when I left my cot, "Lucky" was still there, tucked underneath the covers.  When I went to get him to show him to Jody later, he was gone and no one knew anything.  I was crushed and literally in tears - the gift had meant so much.

MUCH More later...

If you are blessed enough to be riding today, know that we here in Grande Prairie are finally getting a much needed gentle soaking rain that has lasted so far about 12 hours.  I am not riding today and I am OK with that.

I pray this rain reaches Fort Mac sooner than later.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

This post has been updated to correct the name of the gal who gave me a break - her name was Jasmine Hale not Jennifer....Sorry girl!

My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 4

There are some actions that speak so loudly as to character that you bond to that person who took the action in the most profound of ways.

I hope my penmanship will allow you to understand and feel just how deep these experiences were.

I want to back up to the day that I decided I wanted to get into Fort Mac with supplies.

I made this decision in a snap, no thinking, no second guessing, it became a rock hard resolve in my heart. I was prepared to rent a truck and trailer if I had to that's how hard the resolve was set in me.

When I called Lynda Klouth, my Grande Prairie & Region publisher for the BKC News Bytes and told her what I wanted to do, there was no hesitation in her.

It was simple - she told me "I need to take care of x,y and z and then we can go."
I had already adopted this woman as a sister of my soul and her actions on May 4th, 2016, well, they have forever cemented her position in my heart.

When I talked to my team of two, contractors, and told them I needed them to help and support me in this decision, I got immediate support. Again no second guessing, no comments of don't go - it was "you tell me what you need and I will do it." Suzie and Dave helped me with communications, Suzie did my banking and answered emails for me.  I trust this woman with my life - she has been my right hand for 11 years - she is my ROCK in this business called Belt Drive Betty Media.

My company is so much better for having Dave Trerice handling event communications and postings - he's a trooper and guess what - our pay day is on the 6th of the month and these good folks had to wait for me to get home to do payroll before they could get paid. NO WHINING - NO BITCHING - they were sooo damned patient.

Suzie and her husband were among the first to send me a donation as well!
How's that for loyalty and support?

My "son" Darren Burry with the Iron Order Motorcycle Club was also among the first to donate and in all he donated three times.  His club all stepped up to help him, help me.
I call Darren my son because he is one of those very special young men that moved my soul. He and his wife Em are two of the sweetest people in the world with hearts that are so generous, so genuine, well I fell in love with them the first time I met them and time after time they have proven to me the quality of their souls through their actions.  I want to thank all of the members of the Iron Order who helped Darren help me. One Albertan, Canadian and motorcyclist to another - YOU ROCK.

Then there was Jeremy Hall who called me to help coordinate the effort. He started collecting donations, cleared his schedule so that he'd be able to come and pitch in.  He sent me some money to help with supplies, and then he showed up in Fort Mac with more supplies, the donation from Nicole in Slave Lake and Will Skinner.  He also is the one who called me and asked me if we could take Grovedale Fire Fighter Jessica Kappel with us into Fort Mac.

I watched Jeremy Hall work tirelessly. When he wasn't on the BBQ he was shifting supplies and getting them palletized and sorted, running a water truck or a hoe, hand balming supplies off of the SaveOn Foods truck that came in on Thursday because no one could find a key to the forklift.
I watched him texting for supplies like windshield washer fluid, DEF Fluid for diesel trucks and making calls to rally his network of people.

How about Will Skinner - that man's story can't be told enough.  Will was in a wheelchair just 6 short months ago. Two broken legs, two broken arms and a broken neck thanks to a texting driver who crossed the centre lane and hit him on his motorcycle head on.

Now many know I am crippled up from a car crash, two buggered up feet, knees, low back, 4 compressed disks in my neck etc...and yes, there are a lot of things that I have had to learn to do creatively because I refuse to give in.

But seriously - 6 MONTHS AGO Will Skinner was in a wheelchair.

I witnessed the fatigue and pain in his face. I witnessed a man who no matter what, put a smile on his face and just kept on flipping burgers and dogs, cooking potatoes and SERVING OTHERS.

If that does not SPEAK VOLUMES of the character of the man, I seriously don't know what else could unless of course you also consider that Will slept in his seat in Jeremy's truck.

That's where both men slept. In a 3/4 ton Dodge flat deck pick up.

Then there were the others behind the scenes, the ones that no one in the main stream media wants to give any cudos to; the Hells Angels, the Syndicate, the Nomads and others - they set up a warehouse and supported the Redwater evacuee centre filling it three times and offered me help to garner air masks and filters the minute they heard of the need.

100 sets of air filters were taken to Fire Hall 3 in St Albert - courtesy of the men that so many hate.

When I told them of the need in Wandering River and Boyle - they were already all over Boyle and are now also taking up donations to Wandering River.

WHY? Why would these men that society hates and reviles so badly do that? Because it's what they always do in the time of need - they run by the same code that "bikers", "riders" everywhere follow, they are the ones in our community who taught this code to the rest of us - NEVER EVER LEAVE A BROTHER OR SISTER BEHIND.

They just never get any credit for the good things that they do, so most people only know to fear and hate them.

Then there is the flip side of that coin - the Wetaskiwin crew of the Alberta Sheriffs who ride. In an unofficial capacity, Kevin O'Conner and his crew, Malik, Lacy, Jeff Roblin (A1 Supply) and so many others in their network loaded up supplies donated by the Hutterite colonies in both Wetaskiwin and Camrose. Pine Colony in particular went way above and beyond in the quality and quantity of the things they donated. Fresh eggs, potatoes, onions, baking, home made sausage and so much more. They also had donations from John Deere, Coop and many individuals.

The crew from A1 Supply who donated the truck, trailer and fuel to deliver the supplies - are you starting to get the picture here?  Did you know these good people almost left after a 6 hour drive and a herculean effort to gather stuff without eating?  Their responses were "I feel like we would be taking away from the first responders".  I insisted they have a hot dog or something that driving all those hours without food was as dangerous as working without food. They capitulated finally when I ORDERED them to eat.

Then how about my family on Vancouver Island...Kristy Falconer from the Red Knights and all of the civilians and riders from Vancouver Island that filled a truck and trailer with supplies to go to the evacuee centre warehouse at the Edmonton Airport and then bring me supplies for the first responders like more foot care and pain medications, hydralyte and replenishing drinks. Her husband who drove, BC ferries who gave them free passage...

And one of my buddies named Gloria Swan who paid for masks and filters from money she fundraised for evacuee support.

Kimmy & Tony from Provost who gave my crew a trailer to sleep in and are now letting the guys from Rapid Fire use it for sleeping quarters...

There are businesses big and small that played their part in our supply chain:
Costco Grande Prairie - discount off of supplies purchased
UFA - Grande Prairie & Athabasca - free diesel for the first trip in
Honeywell - donation of 24 free air masks and filters
Greggs Distributors- discounts on air masks and filters
Brogan Safety Supply - discounts on air masks and filters
Shoppers Drug Mart Grande Prairie - discounts on insoles and foot care/personal products
London Drugs Grande Prairie - discounts on insoles and foot care/personal products
Screaming' Eagle Oilfield Sales out of Whitecourt - organized a ton off donations - tow truck loads.
Dave Perra from Perra Leatherworks in St Albert who drove a load up and a couple from Barrhead whose names I don't remember that drove a load up.

And the small businesses and citizens of GP who donated supplies in those first hours, like a single mom who helped out and an orthopaedic surgeon's office who donated and Full Draw Electric who delivered water and so many others with donations big and small.

Forever in my heart will I be grateful to these businesses and the individual people who stepped up in whatever way they could and I will be loyal with my pocket book to those businesses who helped me and the crew that stepped up to support me.

Many have asked how I was able to do what I did - I have family right across this country both blood and motorcycle related. I was able to do what I did because of each of them; those who donated their money, time and efforts - everyone of them doing their part.

I have been being criticized by some for what Global put out there in their interview, accusing me of "hogging" the limelight.  I have ZERO control of what they film compared to what hits the air.
They filmed for about an hour and used 2 minutes...Why am I getting cudo's in the media and they aren't?  Ask them, the main stream media

This is the Global Interview I have taken some shots over:
http://globalnews.ca/video/2701197/alberta-motorcyclist-revs-up-to-help-fort-mcmurray

The CBC let me give props to many of the people who helped me:

CBC - The Current Interview with Steve Quinn

Here are the links to MY Articles:

My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 1
My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 2
My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 3

I know all too well that I could not have done the work that I myself personally did if I had not had a whole ton of help and support.

For those who think that the people who get interviewed ever have control over what goes to air - think again.

I did MY personal part - making sandwiches and coffee - MOST of the time alone, and for that work I received hugs, a stuffed dalmatian, a challenge coin, a patch and a whole ton of letters and emails thanking me.

BUT I know and acknowledge that I was far from alone in this endeavour and from the very beginning made sure that I gave recognition and thanks to all involved, through posts on Facebook.

And now that I am home and able to write...please know there are many stories yet to come, many more people to thank and I aim to continue doing my best to show people the ARMY that I HAD behind me - every person, every club, every company....

I was the leader, the catalyst - the community answered the call to action - and those in my circle who did what they could deserve to get cudos too.

I WANT THEIR STORIES out there.

I want to leave you all with the most beautiful poem that was shared with me...every fire fighter I read it to cried their hearts out and I hope it gives you pause for thought...

Lisa Rufiange wrote this ...

With a heavy heart, I put pen to paper tonight. What follows is the result. I guess feel free to share if you find any measure of comfort in these words.

Now I lay me down to sleep
Safe in my bed but still I weep
I cry for those not in their homes
And pray for all of their unknowns

The days are long, the fires rage
As we reload our Facebook page
And read of heartache and of pain
While still the beast has not been slain

It took your home, your car, your land
And on uncertainty you stand
Such shakey ground beneath your feet
Your family safe, so bitter-sweet

Now feel the circle around your soul
You're not alone, we'll make you whole
We come together, tried and true
Canada eh? It's what we do

So rise up now and take my hand
I know you're hurt, I'll help you stand
The road ahead will be so long
I'll help you walk, ‪#‎AlbertaStrong‬

May 5, 2016

If you are blessed to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you!

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

My Time in Fort McMurray - Part 3

Some of the timings of different shipments and situations get's blurred as the days and nights blended into themselves.  And this story has to kind of jump around a bit - there are just so many stories of people helping out, working together...

On Thursday May 5th, Jeremy Hall and Will Skinner had arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
A lady named Nicole from Slave Lake, had sent up some yoga mats and about 150 Subway sandwiches and cookies with Jeremy. I don't know which of the three things were deemed more welcome by the guys but I do know that nothing went to waste. The cookies were brought out to my quick line and they vanished in the space of a couple of hours.

It was amazing to me to hear the comments about the food we had been handing out and that Jeremy & Will had been cooking.

Those comments were to become even more vocal, more appreciative over the next few days.

There were more and more fire teams moving into the Mac Island base camp.

Everywhere you looked you saw fire teams that represented our province.
Over the course of my time there I saw crews from:
Duchess, Redwater, St. Albert, Calgary, Didsbury, Sundre, Cremona, Fort McKay, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Leduc, Leduc County, Tomahawk, High River, Slave Lake, Lesser Slave Lake, Beiseker, Edmonton and on and on - I can't name them all as it became a blur...

All of Alberta it seemed was there - the show of support and solidarity became evident, really fast.

On top of the professional and volunteer teams on the ground there were industrial teams, Syncrude Fire Department, Suncor, Rapid Fire and again, there were so many oilfield fire fighting teams on the ground, I can't remember them all.

I didn't go in there to be a reporter. I went there to be a volunteer and so I never kept notes, and truly didn't use my camera much at all. I was simply too busy doing the job at hand.

When the camp kitchen was brought in late Thursday night early Friday morning, I thought to myself good, the need will drop down to the supplies people needed in their rigs. I was told that this camp kitchen would be making box lunches and serve hot meals.  Surely the pace would slow down some even though there were now somewhere around 500 - 600 fire fighters and equipment drivers calling this camp their base.

Was I wrong about the workload or the pace slowing down?  OH YEAH...

When I made these guys a sandwich, it had two pieces of texas bread, two slices of cheese, mustard, mayo and tucked in the middle was a generous helping of meat, either ham, chicken or roast beef, sometimes I mixed it up and blended meats. These sandwiches were meant to fill people.

I guess I spoiled these guys and gals a bit, at least when it came to sandwiches and coffee!

A lot of the guys were coming to me and asking me to build sandwiches for their fire teams - they called the camp kitchen the "Appy House". I found out quickly what they meant when a whole rack of these sandwiches were sent over to me from the camp. They had one or two thin slices of meat, a piece of cheese on a sub bun. I ended up opening up a lot of these sandwiches and adding more meat and cheese to them for a lot of the guys and gals.  (Some of the other things the camp made however, like the breakfast sandwiches were awesome and I was told they made very good spaghetti.)

The guys and gals, many of them enjoyed the BBQ'd food too and the BBQ ran until 3 and 4 in the morning every day. That didn't change after the camp kitchen came in, many it seemed preferred BBQ food to sit down meals in the camp kitchen.  I guess in many ways, variety was what was needed - choice.

By about 9 pm Friday, I had run out of the sandwich meat we had brought down.  We had brought 4 cases of the three tray packages from Costco, the Kirkland brand with our first load and Jeremy had brought 2 more cases with his load.  Lynda would be bringing me more in the early hours of Saturday morning so until then, I served the sandwiches the camp kitchen had made, often time taking two or three apart to make one larger, heftier sandwich.

Then there was the coffee - ours was strong and full flavoured, the camp's was much mellower than ours and the guys that came to the quick line were quick to comment on the difference.

The one thing I have learned about fire fighters and truck drivers is that they like their coffee strong, strong enough for a spoon to stand up in it!

We had gotten our own coffee makers on Thursday afternoon and we kept our own urns at the station. We were brewing up Folgers Black Silk Coffee - and when we ran out of that we had gotten Nabob coffee, dark roast - all paid for by donations from the motorcycle community.  Culligan was on site delivering water and when they realized what I was going through, they started giving me my own water supply so Matt and others didn't have to run so far to get me a jug. They dropped me a ton of the 5 gallon jugs over the course of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! Thank you Culligan!

The great big 50 cup coffee makers took about 2 and a 1/2 hours to make a pot, so I was making coffee with the little 12 cup pots and keeping my urns filled that way. It was a lot of work, but it meant people didn't often have to wait for coffee and it stayed fresh - I don't think a pot ever made it longer than 20 minutes before it was empty!

Here is a comment that Glenn Chaulk (left) wrote on his Facebook Page about the food and coffee :
This Angel goes by 'Belt Drive Betty'. When she heard about the state of emergency in our region, she packed up and pulled out of Grand Prairie for our city. She brought with her every possible safety item we could need. She also cooks and provides much needed home cooking. Her coffee could put Tim Horton's out of business and her personality is second to none. All for the low price of a smile! Belt Drive Betty, you are proof that Angels walk amongst us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring.

Glenn is the man who gave me his personal challenge coin on Saturday. He's with Syncrude Fire Department.

                           
                     






Friday evening, after we ran out of sandwich meat, Matt Coffin manned my station for me and I went and had a cold shower.  Man did it feel good to be clean. My hair was matted and sticky with sweat and ash. It was gross.

It was far easier to keep my outdoor kitchen clean then it was my hair!

We had clorox wipes and I had lots of teflon mats for building sandwiches on and lots of knives that I had brought with me. We'd wash the mats and knives with cold water, then wipe them down with clorox wipes and re rinse with water to get rid of any bleach residue and wipe them down with paper towel.  It wasn't ideal, but it worked well.

I had two portable banquet coolers filled with ice to keep everything fresh.

I had cold bottled water, yogurt and coffee cream at the far end of the station where the coffee urns  and cups were and one on the other end of my station where I made the sandwiches and coffee.
All of the meats, cheese and condiments were kept out of the sun and the heat in that one.

It was a pretty neat little system considering the conditions in which we were working!

Me, well, I finally got a hat given to me on Thursday because no one could find me a pop up tent or a tarp that I could use to stay out of the sun.  I got so hot at one point that I doused myself with water and went and laid on the concrete in the shade until my body temperature went down. It was so bloody hot! On the outskirts of the city the news was saying it was 33 degrees but inside with all of the fires raging around us I am sure the temperature reached 40+ degrees. The air was filled with ash and the burnt needles off of trees. Every time I thought about complaining about the heat I'd think of the teams fighting the beast and shut up.

We still had no gas at the centre so the showers available were all cold and when the hot shower camp arrived Saturday morning, the line ups were LONG! The smiles on the faces of the people coming out of those shacks were priceless and reflected the sense of total contentment that had been found for a few moments.

A laundry shack also arrived on Saturday morning and boy was that a welcome sight, keeping people supplied with clean towels, socks etc had become very, very challenging.

Little things, things we take for granted every day became big things, bonding things and cause for celebration.

More stories to follow....

If you are blessed enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and cannot see you.


Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider

My time in Fort McMurray - Part 2

Brian Jean & Tany Yao from the Wildrose Party

Thursday May 5th was a busy day. After meeting Brian Jean the opposition leader from the Wildrose Party and Tany Yao - the MLA for Wood Buffalo, who came to thank me personally for what I was doing with the quick line and all of the other volunteers who were helping, it was back to work making sandwiches.

Fire truck after fire truck came in and they would load up with supplies and off they went.

The thank you's and hugs for coffee and food were profuse.

There were only 6 core people on the ground at this point helping the first responders: I met Jody Hudek who works for the Suncor Community Centre and Matt Coffin, a resident of Fort Mac whose home was still standing but had no power. I also met a homeless man named Dennis.

Then there was Jeremy Hall, Will Skinner and myself - all from Grande Prairie, all part of the Canadian Motorcycle Community.

The three from Fort Mac, Jody, Matt and Dennis were doing what they could to clean up from the evacuees and sort out what was fit for human consumption and what wasn't.  Some of the fire fighters had scavenged out of the centre but ended up getting sick so we didn't want that happening again.

Jody & Matt also acted as my runners while Lynda grabbed a few hours of shut eye. Her truck was running like crap and Jeremy Hall tried to change filters for her to no avail.  She headed out late on Thursday afternoon after I had a nap and she spent all day Friday at Grande Prairie Chrysler where they changed filters and did an oil change as well as replaced a headlight for her, all free of charge because of her efforts to help the first responders.

She headed back into Fort Mac late on Friday night arriving Saturday morning with another load of much needed supplies, but her truck was sicker than ever.  She headed straight back to Grande Prairie where it was diagnosed that the Bully Dog in her truck had blown up. The Bully Dog is a computer. GP Chrysler ate some of the bill as the Bully Dog was not covered under extended warranty, but it still cost her over $1,500 out of pocket - a bill she could ill afford to pay. I have put in a plea to GP Chrysler and Chrysler Canada to help her out. I sure hope they do as I could not have done what I did if she hadn't run her truck with supplies.

My very first selfie - I was fighting with the camera
to get in all of the boys from the Redwater Fire Dept.
(Redwater is as close to having a hometown as I come.)

With Lynda gone, Thursday and Friday was basically just me on sandwich detail, and I can't count the number of sandwiches I had made by late Friday.

I'd get a call from someone going out to feed guys and gals on the fire line - Betty, I need 40 sandwiches for a crew on Tower Road that hasn't eaten in 24 hours, Betty, I need 150 sandwiches to feed three different crews I am going out to and on and on the day into the night went...Before I knew it, it was Friday morning about 2 am.  A large number of RCMP officers came to my station for coffee and snacks, everyone of them grateful to have this 24 hour station which was lovingly dubbed the Mac's store.

You see by this time we were getting all sorts of supplies.

Mark Lafountaine and his wife who own Screaming' Eagle Oilfield Sales in Whitecourt gathered tons of Beef Jerky, Gatorade, water, foot care products, Visine, headache medications etc., and my friend Dave Perra from Perra Leather Works in St. Albert had driven those supplies in along with some Tobacco products I had sent him the money to purchase. He arrived around 11 pm Thursday night and turned around to head straight back as he had to work Friday morning. His boss would not let him stay to help unless of course Dave wanted to loose his job.

Earlier on Thursday morning a fire crew had asked me if I could by any chance get some chewing tobacco and another crew asked about cigarettes, some about gum.  All of these early first responders had literally dropped everything, grabbed their bunker gear and headed off to Fort Mac - they had very little with them save the clothes on their backs.

So Friday morning when the one crew came in around 2:30 am (about 20 hours after their asking for tobacco and gum, the gent who had asked about chewing tobacco (his crew begging me to do what I could do cause someone was grumpy) sheepishly poked his head around the corner of his fire rig and said "So????"

I whipped out the tobacco and said "So???" His whole crew was hanging out of the windows cheering "YEAH" and he yelled out "I need to marry you!"

We all had a great chuckle and I got some mighty big hugs. It was at this point that I became dubbed "Klinger" (from MASH) - I became their procurement and moral officer!

Throughout the early morning of Friday May 6th, I had crew after crew coming to ask me about a variety of things. Betty, any chance you can get us some toothpaste? How about some moleskin, Gold Bond? How about some batteries, how about....

Little things that they needed and so our shopping list grew.  Baby Powder, under wear, tee shirts, deodorant, allergy medications, sun screen, lip balm, shaving cream, razors....

Some of these people's feet were in such tough shape they could hardly walk and yet they never stopped going back in when called upon.

I coordinated as many of the supplies as I could with my drivers, Jeremy had also been coordinating supplies and Jody did her best along with Matt and Dennis's help to dig through and re-stack all of the evacuee donations and we found some of the stuff the guys and gals needed in those supplies, things like blankets and clothing. Cases of cookies and other non perishables like cereal were found and a microwave was located to make bowls of soup. One microwave to 500 or so people.  It was rough, but we did it.

The Quick line also dubbed the 24 Hour mac's Store on
Thursday morning at about 4 am.

Thursday evening - about 9 pm

2 AM Thursday night

Catching a few minutes - you couldn't really call it sleep

Sleeping accommodations were sparse, many of the folks up there were sleeping in their trucks, rigs, on yoga mats on the ground, couches inside the Suncor Community Centre or simply on sidewalks.

There were few cots left over from the evacuees and I was given one so I could sleep by my station as Lynda was gone with the trailer to fill it up again.  When I did get to sleep it was so cold that I was shivering uncontrollably and an angel, whose name I later learned was Darrel Comeau, also from Grande Prairie, found some blankets and covered me up well - I got 2 wonderful hours of hard sleep after that.

Darrel Comeau took this photo of

me trying to get a bit of sleep 

Friday morning about 7 am

Once we could get into the coolers in the upstairs kitchen, we had access to hot dogs and hamburgers.

There were canned foods but nowhere to cook as the centre had no gas.

Jeremy and Will found a BBQ and some propane and were manning the BBQ from that point on. Dennis, a homeless man worked his arse off and did all of the running for Jeremy and Will.

Baked beans and hot dogs for breakfast, no one minded at all.  Hot food was not something many of them had had since late Monday.

Mid-day on Friday May 6th, Jeremy who has 10 years of oilfield fire fighting experience and a ton of equipment operation experience was asked to man a water truck and later a hoe.

Will in the back manning the BBQ

He was running all over the place helping where he was needed, which left Will running the BBQ. Jody and Matt were perking coffee upstairs and running down carafes and supplies as fast as they could. Dennis was helping Will as much as he could.

Everything that we could lay our mitts to in that centre was put to good use, feeding and hydrating everyone we could.

Now there is something about Will Skinner I want to share with you before I sign off today.

Not all that long ago, last riding season, Will had been hit head on by a texting driver while riding his motorcycle. He had two broken legs, two broken arms and a broken neck.  Yet all through our time together up in Fort Mac, and while I was gone to Two Hills to deliver their trophy and road signs, this man stood in the heat, in the ash, on the pavement, flipping burgers, carving roasts into steaks, boiling potatoes and providing hot meals to as many as that little BBQ and the two warming grills they scrounged could handle.

Everyone was patient and grateful.
AND Will slept in Jeremy's truck too!

This man is more crippled up than I am and yet he did not stop, no matter the pain he was in.

Matt Coffin and I - he was a gem!

The donations kept coming in, either in cash for us to buy what we couldn't get donated or actual supplies that we had put out pleas for.

I need you to understand something - this was very early into the disaster. The city was pretty much empty of people, there were no people in town to support these fire fighters and Fire command had some water and fruit, but nothing else.  If guys couldn't come in from the fire line because they were without fuel, it meant they couldn't get in to grab any of the meagre supplies that were available to them.

When they did finally get fuel thanks to Jessy Kappel, (the volunteer fire fighter from Grovedale) and all of her logistics support, they were some grateful for that first coffee, sandwich etc. that they were able to drive in to get.

Hugs were plentiful, they were about the only thing that were!

If your are blessed enough to be riding today, please remember to ride like everyone around you is blind and can't see you.

Belt Drive Betty
Editor & Rider