Hundreds of Alberta firefighters went to Fort McMurray a year ago to help battle a massive wildfire.

One of those Firefighters was Captain Mike Raymaker from the Airdrie Fire Department who recalls what he saw when he first arrived.

"Seeing a whole city emptied out of people, seeing how their lives have stopped. There was cars on the side of the highway, buses in the middle of the highway. People's doors are still open on their houses, strollers on front yards, backpacks on school yards. You could tell how fast people had to get out of there."

Raymaker says that it was personal ties that brought him and many firefighters up to the area.

"I went up with a group of guys who all lived in Fort McMurray, worked for Fort McMurray Fire at the time. We all had friends and family up there including myself. My sister in-law already knew she had lost her house at that point in time due to the fire."

It has been a long year for many in the town and those who helped, but the Airdrie Captain still remembers what it was like when all of Alberta came together.

"Even though sometimes it caused a little bit of a headache, there was people coming in from all over Alberta...not only was it the Fire Department but the RCMP, that we knew from all over the Province, it was just unbelievable."

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