As the Minister of Emergency Preparedness, my job is to look at responding to the emergency, but I'll tell you what I was briefed on when I was on the ground. I'll let Parks Canada and others explain further on this if they need to.
When I was briefed on the fire-smarting that actually took place, if it hadn't been for the fire-smarting that was done, the wall of flame that was reported would have kept going. It actually would stop....
It was because of those winds, which had never taken place before, of 100 kilometres per hour, which gusted up to 150 kilometres per hour, that launched those pine cones and branches that were on fire into the town and actually set the town on fire.
However, from everything we were briefed on, if it weren't for the preparation that had taken place, the situation would have been much worse.