Fort McMurray Wildfire Relief
Our team responded swiftly, providing emergency shelter and meals to displaced residents during the Fort McMurray wildfires, and rapidly deploying structures to support the relief efforts.
offering support in the hours that counted most
ATCO has always been exceptional at getting doors open, welcoming thousands of workers at hundreds of sites across the world with exceptional housing solutions. But on May 1, 2016, when the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo declared a local state of emergency, our capacity for accommodating those who needed it most was put to the test. Wildfires ripped through the Fort McMurray area, displacing tens of thousands – the largest natural disaster Canada has ever faced.
Snapshot
Date: 2016
Location: Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Client: Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Category: Disaster Relief
Working with our partners to open doors
We responded, as we always do, by opening our doors. At our Creeburn Lake Lodge and Barge Landing Lodge, just 63 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, we provided beds, washroom facilities and meals. Along with our joint venture partner, the Fort McKay First Nation, we offered lodge accommodation to thousands of residents in need.
And we weren’t done yet.
Housing first responders
At the same time, we built a camp in the subdivision of Saline Creek to house more than 40 ATCO employees rebuilding community infrastructure. Within days, our camp’s staff were also joined by nearly 200 emergency responders, and within weeks we had built another camp in the same location. By the beginning of June, as residents were beginning to return, we housed nearly 450 guests and staff at both camps.
The numbers
The numbers almost speak for themselves: we donated 10,000 meals to emergency responders, and over 60 staff members provided 56,000 meals in just eight days to returning residents in June. But there’s an important truth behind those numbers – just as we have since our founding, we build doors to open them when they’re needed most.
