Province ignored warnings months before Slave Lake disaster, ex-public safety boss says

Alberta’s former top public safety official says he warned the government months before the Slave Lake fire that it was ill-equipped to protect the public in the event of a major disaster.

And in the wake of a new report that finds there were poor communications and a delayed evacuation of the town, Dave Hodgins said Saturday he hopes the province will finally give the Alberta Emergency Management Agency he used to head the power to co-ordinate the response to major disasters.

“It makes my blood boil to think the lives of firefighters and residents were unnecessarily put at risk,” Hodgins said in an interview.

“Ministers and deputy ministers were told this could happen and they chose to ignore that advice.”

Slave Lake Fire Donations Found In Calgary Dump

CALGARY - A heartbroken Calgary business woman admitted Wednesday that it was clothing, bedding and toys she had gathered for wildfire victims that ended up in a city landfill.

Melissa Gunning said her eco-friendly baby container business, Wean Green, started collecting items after a friend lost her home in May to the raging wildfire that destroyed a good portion of Slave Lake, Alta.

She said the public's response was overwhelming. She sent two semi-trailer loads of donated goods to Slave Lake, but when the community indicated it didn't need anymore items, she was stuck with two large storage lockers full of donations.