Watching with horror as a wildfire blazed through Fort McMurray last week, the most common feeling is helplessness followed by hopelessness.
As with any tragedy, it will take years for residents to rebuild and get over the trauma of losing their homes and belongings while the rest of us can only offer a few dollars to charity, maybe some household items and compassion.
Just as it will take time to sift through the ashes to find belongings that may have survived the fire, it will take time to figure out how it started, whether anything could have been done to prevent it and if the evacuation could have been more orderly.
Improvements will likely be made, new infrastructure will be built and eventually, Fort McMurray will stand whole again.
How do we know this? We know this because other communities, such as Slave Lake and Kelowna, have suffered losses from devastating wildfires but came back stronger.
What will be difficult is for people to come together after the trauma and stress and have hope once again. Post traumatic stress disorder will likely be revealed, possibly months after the fire, and children, frightened because of a loss of order and security, will be among the victims.
But there are some positive lessons to be taken from this tragedy.
For one thing, the residents of the Alberta oil town must know by now that people care, with hundreds of thousands of dollars being raised for the fire victims from private individuals holding concerts to the Red Cross and the Canadian government, which agreed to match donations.
We have also learned how important it is to be prepared for fire, especially for cities such as Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody, which border on forests that are becoming drier earlier in the season, and possibly, tinder dry for longer.
It only takes an unguarded open flame or a smouldering cigarette to cause the conflagration such as we have seen in Fort McMurray.
We also realize the importance of having an emergency grab-and-go kit and a vehicle with enough fuel to be able to escape safely in an emergency.
For now, though, it's time for understanding while at the same time taking responsibility for our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones.
