Empress Area Fire

The fires of Southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan last week have left a trail of devastation behind them. The losses will number in the millions. The farmers and ranchers are still reeling and trying to cope with the losses of cattle, feed, grass, fences, corrals, crop stubble, farm yards, and machinery. As the CAO of Empress, I have been asked to set up a gofundme account as we try to raise money for the losses in the Empress area including the  MD of Acadia and  RM of Chesterfield to help them with the recovery process; buying feed for cattle, building corrals and fences to hold the cattle, replacing lost cattle, rebuilding houses and farmyards, buying equipment and the list goes on. For many farmers and ranchers, a paycheque comes once per year, and they have lost that paycheque for this year, and reduced their future paychecks for 3-5 years while the land recovers. This money will go into an ATB bank account set up in the same name Empress Area Fire that has 2 signing authorities, -one the CAO of Empress, and one a rancher in Empress. A committee of fire effected residents will determine the distribute of all donations to the fire victims based on a percentage of their loss against the fire total loss, to ensure everyone is treated equitably.