Fort McMurray firefighters save homes of others, but lose their own

A week after their city burned, tales of selfless sacrifice are beginning to emerge from FortMcMurray, stories of firefighters who lost their homes and fought on to save those of theirneighbours.

"We've had several members lose their homes," saidNickWaddington, president of the local firefightersunion."We had one member watch his house burn at the end of his driveway, and then go and put in an 18-hour shift."

Following a tour of devastatedneighbourhoods on Monday, fire chiefDarby Allen spoke about a firefighter who showed "heroism" afterhe and his crew failed to save his own home from the flames.

"He didn't drop his nozzle," Allen said. "He moved to hisneighbour's house and continued to fight that fire. And he foughtthat fire for a further 22 hours before he just couldn't standanymore."

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More than 160 firecrews have been been fighting tirelessly to save the city since the fire erupted last Tuesday, when more than 80,000 residents were forced to flee for their lives.

We've been through the most dangerous experience any one of us could ever imagine, and no firefighters have died.- Nick Waddington, firefighter

Though hundreds of homes were lost, fire crews that battled the blaze for countlesshours under hellish conditionssaw their efforts pay off; officials estimate they managed to save 85 to 90per cent of the city.

Only now are some of those members being pulled back from the front lines, and finally being sent home to reunite with their families, for the first time since the evacuation orders came down.

"It was such a monumental task at hand,"Waddingtonsaid. "Of course, everybody was exhausted but we were solely focused on putting this fire out," saidWaddington."This has been a tremendous experience which has brought us all so close together."

Waddingtonsaidindustry workers are among the unsung heroes of wildfire. Hesaidthe fight to save the city would have been futile without them.

When the city was a ghost town, made virtually unreachable by the surrounding flames,theoilsandsmines provided much needed manpower and equipment.

"We had an amazing response from our industrial partners,"Waddingtonsaid during a Tuesday morning interview on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM. "This city would have burnt to the ground if our industrial partners weren't there.

"They were the guys that were there from Day 1, they were the only resources we could get. They are the FortMcMurrayfire department as much as we are."

Despite the devastating lossesand sleepless nights,Waddingtonsaidmoraleremains strong.

"There's still a lot of work to do, but we've been through the most dangerous experience any one of us could ever imagine, and no firefighters have died.

"We feel really good about that, and the hope that the citizens of FortMcMurrayare givingus.

"We're ready to rebuild."

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