Two weeks of farewell parties

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks of party-ing!

The highlight was the party with my tean where Simone and I had to dress up in crazy clothes everytime we said certain words.  I ended up wearing a green wig, a grass skirt, a mask and one gumboot.  The team sung the Cup Song (when you're gone) to us with some new words thanks to Belinda.  Lori and Jenna played the cups, Belinda and Joanne sung while we had three awesome backup dancers in costumes.  Kirk was Bert, Ken was a gorilla and Jamie was Ocar the Grouch.  I almost walked in on them all practicing at work last Thurdsay. This is what the HSE team does at work!

We had a steak supper on Friday night at the Menihek Ski Lodge an then on the following Friday we had a party at our place. Gerry dubbed the theme of the party: Drink my booze cause I can't pack it to Australia!

Last night we had a farewell for Steve at Corby's with two moving speechs from Richard and Steve.  Steve received a massive framed photo collage of the IOC Mine and the town of Labrador City as gift from IOC.  He was super impressed with the picture and said it was worth three years at the mine just to get it!

Forest Fires

Just thought I would let you know about the large forest fire that is burning just outside of Labrador City.  The fire started on Sunday in thick forest and is still burning.  We have had warm dry weather >20C so it has not been contained yet. We have four water bomber planes dropping water on the fire and also helicopters plus over 40 ground crew.  Many cabins have been burnt down including some of our friends cabin as the fire is in the area where there are a lot of cabins.  We have sold our cabin but our cabin is a long way away from the fire.

The fire is closer to Wabush which is Labrador City’s sister town 7km away and yesterday the fire came within 4km of the town of Wabush.  Last night at 8pm the town of Wabush was evacuated and a state of emergency has been declared.  Most people are staying with friends and family in Lab City.  The town is very smoky and ash is falling everywhere.  We can call local numbers in Lab City but we have no phone connections outside of Labrador City so we can’t call you.  Internet is still working.  The Trans Labrador Highway is closed but our airport is still open and the road to the province of Quebec is open also.  There are some long line ups at the fuel stations and grocery stores as people prepare for the worst.

IOC (Iron Ore Company of Canada) is helping out by providing accommodation to evacuated people and heavy equipment to clear a large fire break near Wabush.  Wabush Mines has closed down but IOC is still running and most things in Lab City are running as normal but it is very quiet.  It is extremely unlikely that the fire would reach Labrador City as there is a lot of water between the two towns.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2394895737/

View of the fire while flying to Sept Iles