Kincardine native receives medallion for battling Fort McMurray wildfire

Chris Potter (above right, with Athabasca fire chief Travis Shalapay), a Kincardine native now living and working in Edmonton, Alberta, has been recognized by the province for helping battle the wildfire in Fort McMurray, back in May.

The 24-year-old son of Tim and Nancy Potter of Kincardine, he joined the Athabasca Fire Department in April of 2015, as a volunteer firefighter.

"When the wildfire started, we prepared a crew of members who volunteered to go and help out the structural firefighting effort in the city," said Potter. "They were there for one week. I volunteered to go then, but wasn't selected. I was chosen to go with the second crew, with wildland firefighting equipment, and we were there for five days."

He said the majority of his crew's time was spent patrolling various areas, looking for "hot spots" to extinguish. This consisted mostly of driving slowly through an area, looking for signs of fire. The crew then parked the truck, jumped out with picks and shovels, ran a small hose from the truck, dug up the smouldering area, and put out the fire.

The fire can burn in the peat moss under the topsoil for quite some time, and flare up at random, he said.

"This job is very important," said Potter, "because when a fire goes through a wooded area as quickly as this one did, it burns the grass and foliage on the ground, and doesn't always touch the trees. A flare-up can cause another wildfire at any time if it were to happen at the base of a tree for example."

He said he and his crew were a little scared as they didn't really know what to expect, "but we were definitely happy to be able to go and contribute to the efforts. We certainly felt a great sense of pride to have helped put the fires out. Although it's still technically active, everyone's efforts played a huge part in preventing further damage."

In October, Potter received a medallion (right) and a certificate of appreciation (below) from Alberta premier Rachel Notley, for helping battle the Wood Buffalo wildfire which displaced almost 90,000 Albertans from their homes and businesses.











 
Potter said the volunteer firefighters didn't expect to receive a thank you from the province. "We were quite surprised to receive it so quickly, and we are very proud and honoured to be recognized."