For the past week, Jordan Redshaw has been tweeting constantly for 16 hours a day. He’s responsible for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo’s Twitter account.
“Intense,” he said when asked to describe the last week. “There’s been some pretty harsh lows and some even-keeled times as well. It’s just been overall, pretty intense. We’re working pretty crazy hours. There’s a lot of people who have barely slept at all up here. It’s amazing to see how well this community has come together. Everybody is in it together.”
For many of the tens of thousands of people forced out of their homes by a massive and unpredictable wildfire last week, the account was their primary source of information.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire: fire chief says 85% of community still intact
Before the fire, the account had roughly 8,000 followers. On Monday, it had close to 28,000.
“We had to look at: what is the most timely information? What way can we make sure that information reaches the most people the fastest? How can we ensure the accuracy of that information?” Redshaw said that’s how the municipality decided to use Twitter to keep everyone updated.
He said the social medium has been used in many different ways during the wildfire emergency – during the evacuation and afterwards.
Watch below: Redshaw joins Global News in studio
After the city was evacuated, he was able to use the Twitter account to help those who were forced to leave with nothing.
“There was a woman who was looking for diapers down in Edmonton. I just sent out a quick tweet saying, ‘hey, can anyone help this person?’ and instantly, we were flooded back with responses.”
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Another way the communications team has used the municipality’s Twitter account is to share video messages from Fire Chief Darby Allen.
“We needed to have someone speak to the people just given the circumstances,” Redshaw explained. “Chief Allen’s just – he’s honestly going to kill me for this – but he’s an incredible human. I’ve never met a leader like him in my life. He’s a truly special man.”
During the chaotic and ever-evolving situation, Redshaw and his colleague Robin Smith – both Fort McMurray residents themselves – posted the latest updates on evacuation orders, emergency procedures, evacuation centres, and damage estimates to certain neighbourhoods.
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Smith was part of an evacuation and had to flee to Edmonton. Redshaw remains at the emergency operations centre in Fort McMurray. From about 7:45 a.m. to after midnight every day, he handles the @RMWoodBuffalo Twitter account. But don’t try to give him any credit for his work.
“People are like, ‘you’re working so hard,’ but when you see the other people that are here and what they’re doing … It’s pretty special to be honest, to see the strength of some of the characters around us. We’ve got people that are working longer days than I am, that have been doing this from Day 1… and there’s a good chance that no one’s ever going to know who they are.
“We have so many groups of people who are working crazy days just trying to help everyone out and I think that’s probably the most important thing: all the credit should be going to all those people for doing this and not me.”
WATCH: Looking back at a dramatic week in Fort McMurray
He can’t wait for a time when all these unsung heroes can be recognized.
“I see the generosity, I see the care, I hear the stories,” Redshaw said. “One day, when we’re able to really start getting the stories out about everything that’s happened here, tears are going to be shed but at the same time it’s going to be tears of happiness over seeing how strong the human spirit is.”
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