Syrians who fled war now flee Canada's wildfire
Amid the thousands of people evacuating their homes as a wildfire ravages Fort McMurray, Canada, some know all too well what it is like to run for their lives -- Syrian refugees.
They are some of the newest residents of Canada, as the country introduced a plan to resettle tens of thousands of Syrians forced from their homes by war.
But some are now faced with the prospect of losing these new home and sense of stability, this time fleeing fire instead of bombs. The entire city of Fort McMurray is under evacuation orders due to the wildfire, and entire neighborhoods have already been destroyed by the blaze.
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Abdul Almouazan, 66, has only been living in Fort McMurray since February, but on Tuesday he had to leave his home behind. He told CBC News that he and his family of eight were forced to leave when the wildfire drew near and ash began to cloud the air in his neighborhood.
He first went to a local mosque for shelter, and then the mandatory evacuations began.
They do not know when they will be able to return to Fort McMurray, or what will be left of their home when they get there.
Almouazan and his family are now at a shelter set up at Edmonton's Al Rashid Mosque, which opened its doors to anyone displaced by the wildfire.
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Mosque director Omar Najmeddine told CBC he felt for those displaced by the fire and wanted to offer a place for them to feel secure.
"We opened our doors just to show people they are not in the middle of nowhere," Najmeddine said. "Even if they left Fort McMurray, they still have a house somewhere else in this country."
But refugees are not only among the victims of the devastation, they are also organizing fundraising efforts for their new countrymen who have lost everything in the blaze.
In total, more than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray as the fire burns out of control, making the need for aid immense. So newly arrived Syrian refugees have taken up the call to action.
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A support group for Syrian refugees in Calgary is collecting donations to buy hygiene items for people displaced by the fire, through a project called 99 Hampers of Hope.
Rita Khanchet, one of the organizers behind the donation collection told the Calgary Herald she felt it was her duty to help.
“Me and my family wanted to do something for these people," Khanchet said. "Canadian society helped us when we came to Canada.”
She and her family fled Syria just five months ago.
"When I follow the news, and I see how they are suffering, I feel for them," Khanchet said. “It’s not easy to lose everything. We can understand them more than anyone in Canada. We were in the same situation.”
Additional information from the Associated Press.
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Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
