A North Vancouver-based consulting firm has had a hand in fighting the Fort McMurray wildfire, providing the Alberta government with key intel on the fire’s movements.
Hatfield Consultants has been taking infrared satellite images from Denver company DigitalGlobe and making them workable for the Alberta Wildfire Branch.
The Harbourside Drive firm also has an office in Fort McMurray. All of the company’s employees were safely evacuated but the blaze some have dubbed “the beast” caught even them off guard.
“They weren’t even thinking about this little puff of smoke that was going on to the southwest. Next thing you know, there were evacuation orders,” said Jeff Clark, Hatfield’s geomatics manager. “It was all fast and furious and the next thing you know, you’ve got (10) per cent of Fort Mac burned to the ground.”
That percentage could have been higher had it not been for the satellite images firefighters used, which depict the infrared spectrum not visible to human eyes.
“They’ll try to figure out where the fire has been and where they think it’s going to go. They’ll also assess what’s in the line of fire,” Clark said. “You could have a whole fire burning with billowing smoke but you can see through that and you can actually see the hot spots. … That’s important for them.”
Images from May 5 provided to the North Shore News depict healthy vegetation in pink while burned out areas are in a dark blue.
“If you look down, where it says Beacon Hill, that’s one of the hardest hit neighbourhoods. With that one, you can tell it looks like it’s just been run through. There’s no red left in it. That place was literally burned,” Clark said.
Meanwhile, the North Shore community is banding together to help the fire’s victims. Starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, neighbours on Lynn Valley’s Kilmarnock Crescent will hold a giant garage sale and lemonade stand with all proceeds to the Canadian Red Cross’ Alberta Fires Appeal.
North Vancouver oral surgeon Dr. Brad Forster is donating all of his fees from three days of practice to the Red Cross.
And West Vancouver barber and soccer coach Michel Ibrahim is collecting soccer and hockey jerseys to donate to Fort Mac sports teams when things have returned to normal later in the summer.
