Canada's Seven Days of Fire, and the Jewish Response

The massive wildfire blazing through the Canadian oil sands began on May 1st and now currently covers over 2,000 square kilometers. About 1,600 structures have been destroyed and there is an estimated $9 billion Canadian dollars in damages. The city of Fort McMurray has been evacuated , Premier Rachel Notley is urging anyone left in Fort McMurray to leave;

"Please listen carefully to this," she said. "If you aren't a police officer, a firefighter or otherwise have a first-responder role in the emergency, you should not be in Fort McMurray."

At this time no one is able to estimate when it may be safe to return, fire's as large as this one are capable of burning for months.

.More than 500 firefighters are fighting the fire on many fronts in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 16 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment.

The Canadian Jewish News, otherwise known as CJN has reported a number of Jewish Canadian initiatives taken to help those affected by the fire.

Ve’ahavta a Toronto based social service organization launched a Fort McMurray relief fund on May 4th.

Avrum Rosensweig, CEO of Ve'ahavta said," “There’s no map telling you how to give money in a crisis, so we need to figure out who to work with. We’ve put the word out to the Jewish community in Edmonton and people from Fort McMurray to figure out how best to distribute the money… We’re mandated to give it to a larger organization like the Red Cross or United Way.

“The needs are tremendous in terms of immediate crisis [supplies] like blankets, food and shelter, not all of which are being taken care of by the government and certainly not by insurance companies. It seemed pretty clear to us that there should be a Jewish communal response to this crisis,” he said.

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton is also raising money for evacuees staying in the vicinity of Edmonton and Jewish help is on its way from as far away as Israel.

IsraAid, a non-profit that provides disaster relief and support in crisis areas all over the world, has also rushed to help. This is the first time the organization will be sending a team to Canada.

In an interview with The CJN, Shachar Zahavi, IsraAid's founding director said that they already have a volunteer in Alberta assessing the evacuation centers set up near Fort McMurray.

“The minute we have a better sense of what’s happening, we’ll decide how to act,” he said, emphasizing that IsraAid will definitely be sending more volunteers over the next few days.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!