Wildwood residents allowed to return after wildfire

Residents from the Wildwood community were allowed back into their homes Thursday morning, but some aren’t confident that the threat has ended.

“We’re still not out of the woods yet from what I understand, we could be under another evacuation order by the weekend,” said Kenn Chabra, Wildwood resident.

“It’s very devastating to look at what is behind us and see these two units gone out of here.”

Chabra returned to his home just outside Wildwood on Thursday. In spite of everything, he knows he’s lucky. And while Chabra is grateful to be home for now. He’s hoping residents receive clear messaging moving forward.

“They held some press conferences the last few days in Edson. They didn’t even have a microphone on the key speakers. And so it was very difficult to listen to them.”

For crews on the front lines, their directive is clear. Taking care of hotspots around the town and keeping the community safe.

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But it’s not just trained firefighters on these lines.

While in Wildwood, CityNews came across a crew that retrofit their dump truck to become a water tanker.

“I’ve always loved helping out the community, and I like to help out in any way I possibly can. And for the rail, it’s very I think it’s very essential that we, that we make it clear,” said Mathew Wagner, helping fight the fires.

Outside the fire hall, the community has come together to support those keeping the community safe.

Tammy Flanders has been here through the worst of it.

“It sounded like a war zone with the water bombers and helicopters and sirens and it was crazy. It’s nice it’s under control. The rains helped,” said Flanders.

She’s thankful to have quieted down. But she knows there may be more difficult days ahead, she wants to do her part to help those who’ve done so much to keep her community safe.

“We’re just happy we could be here and help these guys keep moving. So they can fight this sort of thing again.”