In the two weeks since a wildfire forced the village of Boyle to evacuate, community members have flooded the fire department and the volunteer firefighters who fought the blaze with thanks and donations.
For two days after the blaze, local restaurant Peggy’s Bistro served free burgers, fries, and sodas to volunteer firefighters. Earth to Embers, the local dispensary, donated a part of their profits on May 16 to the Boyle Fire Department.
Most recently, posters encouraging people to donate to the Boyle Fire Department have appeared around town. Some of the fire department’s equipment was destroyed in the blaze, the poster informs people, and they need help replacing it.
Boyle Mayor Colin Derko said that the outpouring of help in the aftermath of the wildfire has been incredible.
“Even during the event, we’ve had so many offers – generous offers – of both money and help,” he told CTV News.
“Then, after the event, a local member of our community had put out a poster just asking people to be aware of the fact that the fire department was out and our volunteers were working.”
A Thirty-Hour Scare
Even during the blaze, the community pulled together to protect itself.
Shortly before 11 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, residents were ordered to leave their homes, as a wildfire had spread to within just two kilometers of village limits. Residents drove 150 kilometers north to Lac La Biche, where they were welcomed at a reception center.
For the next thirty hours, volunteer firefighters battled the blaze.
“A lot of our volunteers worked through the night on foot. A lot of them haven’t slept. They’re working so hard and working closely together, too,” Derko told CBC News.
By Friday, residents were permitted to return home.
Watching Over Ted
Boyle’s response to the wildfires and to the firefighters that fought the blaze is perhaps less surprising in light of how the community takes care of each other in normal, non-fiery times.
Ted has lived in Boyle for at least forty years. He worked at the local grocery store, where he trained teenagers and used his wit to convince people to buy sale items. He kept the unruly behaviour of younger staff in check, all while pulling shenanigans of his own. He greeted everyone that came into the store by name.
Several days after the evacuation was lifted, Ted went for a walk. Fifteen hours later he still hadn’t returned. A community member posted on the local Facebook page, asking people to keep an eye out for Ted.
Soon, the whole community had come together to search for him. Workers at the local gas bar found him shortly after and brought back to the seniors’ lodge he now calls home.
As one member of the Boyle community told TheRockies.Life, “As our community members get older, it’s the upcoming generation’s job to keep an eye out for them. This is just an unsaid rule of small towns.”
Looking Out for Each Other – Always
This kindness is not just extended to aging residents.
The community member reflected, “Just yesterday, a father put word out that he had no money, and he needed to feed his kids. He had groceries delivered all evening by folks just looking out for each other. No child or family would ever go hungry in Boyle.”
For Boyle residents, the outpouring of gratitude is just a part of living in a small town. As one community member reflected, “There is something so special about living in a small town that you will never find living in an urban area.”
