Don’t open the fridge. Clean your air ducts. Be prepared to wash everything. Keep every single receipt.
READ MORE: Live updates of Fort McMurray wildfire
These are just a few words of advice to the Fort McMurray evacuees from a former Slave Lake, Alta., resident who was forced to flee when a wildfire tore through that town in 2011.
Mandy Larsson wrote the Facebook post Wednesday, and it has since been liked and shared thousands of times.
WATCH: Fort McMurray wildfire: battle against flames far from over
“Seeing the videos and photos brings a chilling feeling to my stomach,” Larsson said. “I remember the adrenaline and fear as we drove through the flames and ash. I remember the fear of not knowing if all my friends and their children had gotten out. Of not knowing if my home was still standing.
“I’ve cried more than once. Mostly for the families stranded on the side of the road, waiting for fuel, scared the fire would catch up to them.”
READ MORE: Dramatic video shows Fort McMurray residents fleeing raging wildfire
Five years ago, a wildfire consumed more than a third of Slave Lake. It caused more than $700 million in damage, and at the time, was the second-costliest insured disaster in Canadian history, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray fire: What lessons were learned from the tragic 2011 Slave Lake blaze?
She says a lot of what she wrote on Facebook are things she wished someone would have told her when she was forced out.
“Looking back…if I can give people any sort of idea of what’s going to happen in the next couple of weeks, then I feel great for having given them that piece of mind.”
The responses to her post are overwhelmingly grateful, with others adding their own tips as well.
Larsson says the experience has changed her. Every spring she hopes and prays for rain.
“When I see people throw a cigarette butt out their window…what are you thinking?”
“Every year I always go through the same thing in May, waiting for that phone call that says, ‘alright, we’re going to be evacuated.'”
READ MORE: ‘It’s like Armageddon here’ – Fort McMurray resident who stayed in town during fire describes city
Now a mother and living with her family in Lloydminster, she is prepared to go at a moment’s notice should the need arise.
“We’ve made a few changes in our lifestyle now,” she said.
She has important documents in fire-proof boxes in an accessible spot, along with keepsakes and family heirlooms.
“You never know when you’re only going to have a minute.”
You can read Larsson’s full post here.
With files from Global News’ Andrew Russell
Watch below: As displaced residents of Fort McMurray still grapple with the devastation a wildfire has had on their community, a former resident of Slave Lake is offering her perspective on what wildfire evacuees can expect in the coming days and weeks. Just five years ago, the town of Slave Lake suffered catastrophic damage in its own wildfire disaster. Kent Morrison has more.
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