As the fires continue to burn in Fort McMurray, Foothills residents are remembering their own experiences with natural disaster from 2013.

Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson says many lessons were learned from the flood, many of them bad, thanks to experiences with the Province's Disaster Recovery Program or DRP.

He says the work that came after from the DRP Advocacy Committee will likely pay off for Fort McMurray residents.

"Ironically the DRP, the advocacy group, Mayor Craig Snodgrass and the Town Council, all the stuff we went through with the DRP, all the initiatives we put forward and all the things that were documented and we recommended to the government, that hopefully they were able to take and learn from. And then take those suggestions and move them forward in helping folks from Fort McMurray recovering from this."

Anderson says the best bet for those who want to help is simply to donate cash.

You can give five bucks to the cause by texting the Red Cross at 30333.