A community in northern Alberta has been devastated by wildfire, and a local resident has been moved to help.

Daleen Bybee of Cranbrook is organizing a donation drive to help the thousands of residents of Slave Lake, who had to flee their northern Alberta community as a wind-whipped wildfire crackled through their town. Police say nearly one-third of Slave Lake - and about half its homes - has been destroyed or has been damaged.

Bybee says clothing and toiletries are the most essential items needed. So far, the Cranbrook Daily Townsman and the Cranbrook and District Chamber of Commerce are serving as drop-off points for donations, along with New To You, a consignment store in Sparwood. Bybee says that she hopes to have considerable items donated by Friday, and that transportation has already been arranged to ship the items to a central collection point in Slave Lake.

Bybee is launching the drive as a private individual. "I have lots of friends who I've seen on line who have either worked in Slave Lake, lived in Slave Lake or have friends who have lost their homes - so it's kind of an extension of my friends."

I used to live in Lethbridge, and there's a big drive happening there. But now that I live here, I thought I could do my part by organizing something here too."

Clothing of all sizes - in particular children's clothing and younger adult clothing. "A lot of the families I've heard about are younger families, who've lost their homes."

Toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo and soap, washcloths, and suchlike necessities are also needed.

In Slave Lake, 250 kilometres north of Edmonton, the damage is catastrophic. Hundreds of homes, churches and businesses in the northern Alberta town have been destroyed. So too has the town hall and radio station. The power's out, cellphone service has been spotty, and 7,000 residents have been forced to flee through a single road, the only highway open as fires rage on all sides.

One man who decided to leave even before a mandatory evacuation of the town's 7,000 residents was ordered around suppertime Sunday said the speed of the fire caught everyone by surprise.

Scott Sieben said winds gusting up to 100 kilometres an hour fanned the flames. ``It was almost like an imaginary hand just pulling it along.''

He said the blaze was so intense it was ``like watching an oil fire. Black as black can be.''

``It was so out of control,'' said Sieben, who, with his wife, Leonna, was safe ``far, far away'' from the fire. ``I'm sure at one point there was a cloud that spanned two miles.''

Residents were initially advised to go to green spaces, open areas such as parking lots or the beach ringing the shore of Lesser Slave Lake, a popular recreation area.

But as it became evident that the fire was invading the town nestled on the lake's southeast corner, they were told to get out on the only highway that was still open. The others had been blocked by heavy smoke and flames.

Rob Genaille, his wife and two teenage children had about 15 minutes to pack one suitcase and throw it and some sleeping bags into their hatchback.

They tried to get out of town one way but had to turn back.

``I couldn't see anything,'' Genaille said. ``Fire was on both sides of the road.''

He said they spent a few hours in a hotel in Slave Lake before making their way to an evacuation centre. Their fourth-storey hotel room gave them a terrifying look of buildings burning.

``We were watching one hotel ignite. That just basically blew up. We could hear popping, just like explosions,'' he said.

``It's a pretty helpless feeling when you can't get out of town and the roads are closed. You sit up there and you hope you don't burn.''

Numerous other blazes have been burning throughout Alberta, but the northern part of the province has been particularly hard hit.

With files from Canadian Press