In May 2016, tens of thousands of people in Fort McMurray were forced to flee their homes, as a fire burned through surrounding forests and entered the city.Damian Asher, a veteran firefighter and the captain of the Fort McMurray fire department, said the department had been monitoring the wildfire's movement.READ MORE: Short-term exposure to Fort McMurray wildfire smoke affected lungs of RCMP officers: study"We've had lots of forest fires in our area in the past and we work with lots of forest fires in that area. As far as moving into our city, with a forest fire, you never know what's going to happen," he said."Forestry crews Alberta Forestry were on it. They were putting in their measures to keep the fire at bay and keep the fire located in the area where it was," he recalled."We were prepared for it for where it was; we had discussions of testing all of our skills, making sure our equipment worked, all that sort of stuff," he said.Then the fire made its move."The wind direction made a 180-degree shift in wind direction and pushed the fire into the city."The fires in May forced the evacuation of almost 90,000 residents from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and destroyed about 2,400 homes and other buildings.READ MORE: Fires and floods: How Fort McMurray is addressing risk of disaster 5 years after massive wildfireAsher was one of the firefighters working to battle the blaze. For days, he and several crews tried to suppress the flames."The fire moved in really fast and it just came in like a big wave. It was super dry that year, so it was just a big wave of fire that come up out of the trees."And as it come down out of the trees, it threw a lot of debris into the residential zones. A lot of burned embers were landing in houses, backyards on decks and stuff like that," he said."We had lots of fires in multiple areas, not just at the face of where the fire was."READ MORE: 5 years after ‘The Beast’ ignited, investigation into Fort McMurray wildfire ‘remains open and active’The Insurance Bureau of Canada said insured damage caused by the wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alta., totalled $3.58 billion, making it the most expensive disaster for insurers in the country’s history at the time.On this episode of What happened to …? Erica Vella revisits speaks with residents in the city of Fort McMurray and people on the frontlines who attempted to stop the fire. She finds out how the city has recovered and what has been done to prevent fires like this from happening in the future.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Journalist, Erica Vella is on a journey to find and speak with the people at the heart of stories that have captured the entire world’s attention, … and today she shares major developments in two stories that we’ve covered so far.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Dec. 9 2012, video of a baby monkey running around in a faux-shearling coat at a North York IKEA garnered international attention when Darwin escaped a locked crate and vehicle before making a dash toward the furniture store.“(I thought) this is absolutely ridiculous that there would be a monkey wearing clothes, walking around in Canada in the middle of winter. It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever and just really, you start to think about how did he get to that position, how did he get to be a pet in the first place?” said Dania Leipa, executive director of Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary.Leipa was volunteering with the primate sanctuary at the time when she learned about the incident.Within a day or two of Darwin being transferred by Toronto Animal Services to the sanctuary, Darwin's former owner, a real estate and corporate lawyer named Yasmin Nakhuda, threatened legal proceedings because ultimately, she wanted what she said was her monkey returned to her on a permanent basis.On this episode of What happened to…?, Erica learns about the legal battle for Darwin and finds out where the monkey is now. She also speaks with experts about the illegal exotic animal trade to see how much of an issue it is in North America.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elias Tarabay remembers Aug. 4, 2020, clearly. He arrived home after having a late lunch with a friend. He was living in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. His house had a balcony that looked out at the city’s ports.Just as he settled in, he heard a loud explosion.Tarabay was working as an editor for a local newspaper at the time and he thought he would take the video to send back to his office.Then a second large explosion rocked the Beirut port.The explosion killed at least 214 people, according to official records. Thousands were injured.It was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history — the result of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate igniting after a fire broke out. The explosion tore through the city with such force that it caused a tremor across the entire country that was heard and felt as far away as the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, more than 200 kilometres away.It would soon emerge in documents that the highly combustible nitrates had been haphazardly stored at a port warehouse alongside other flammable material since 2014 — and that multiple high-level officials over the years knew of its presence and did nothing.The event galvanized people to demonstrate in the streets, asking for government accountability and in the days following the explosion, several cabinet members announced their resignation. On Aug. 10, 2020, Beirut’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, announced he would be stepping down from his position.On this episode of What happened to …? Erica Vella revisits the days that followed the deadly blast and finds out if anyone has been held accountable. She also learns how Lebanon’s economic crisis has made it difficult for the country to rebuild.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elliott Price attended the Montreal Expos' first home game on April 14, 1969 at Jarry Park."There was a lot of worry because it snowed significantly during that week in April 1969, and it was a makeshift field, as well, and they were worried about what kind of, you know, will they be able to play the game?" Price said."And lo and behold, April 14, 1969, the sun came out and was 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and there were people standing on snow mounds behind the outfield fences, looking into a full house to the first game ever played in Canada."The Expos were Montreal's team for over three decades and in 1994, the team was on track to go the World Series but a labour dispute ended the season."They were arguably the best team in baseball," Price said."It was clear to me, and I said so on the radio, that there was a very good possibility that there was going to be a significant work stoppage. Owners and players had reached the point and there had been such animosity for years, and this was the tipping point that they would never complete the season. That they would stop and have a full stop, period, and never play the World Series that year was unfathomable. But apparently unfathomable happens."Jeff Fassero was on the team in 1994 and said there was always hope among the players that they would go back to finish the season."We were taking the chance of it was going to be like it was in what was it like (in the 80s) when there was another major strike, but they got back and finish the season and that's what we were hoping for," he said."But we just didn't happen."Attendance after the 1994 season began to decline in Montreal and a decade later, it was revealed the Expos would no longer be Montreal's team.The team would move to Washington and become the Nationals."We cried. The game ended, I recorded. I knew it wouldn't get through the finale and closing off the last broadcast, so I recorded it. And while we were listening to it ... it was the end," Price said.The legacy of the Montreal Expos has continued and there were hopes that Major League Baseball would come back to the Quebec city.On this episode of Global News' What Happened to...?, Erica Vella speaks with former players and people in Montreal who have been calling for the return of baseball to the city of Montreal.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Devon Harris always had a passion for sport and dreamed of competing in the Olympics as a teenager.He spent his childhood in Haughton, a rural district in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, but moved to Olympic Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica."The thing that I would say kept me sane was school. I loved school. ... I loved to play and guess where I could play? At school. So I discovered sports. ... The thing I loved about sports was regardless of what your situation was off the field or on the field, man, it's my heart against yours; it's me against you and what you can bring to the table."Harris said he was 15 years old when he had dreamed of being an Olympian."It's 1979 and I'm 15 years old and it was a year before the Moscow Olympic Games and ABC Wide World of Sports — American TV — had a series called Road to Moscow, and they showcased athletes from around the world, different nationalities and disciplines," he said."And what I saw in that series were these very average and ordinary people, but they had extraordinary dreams and they had an equally extraordinary desire to achieve those dreams."Before pursuing his dream to become an Olympian, Harris enlisted in the army and in 1987, he was asked to try out of the first-ever Jamaican bobsledding team."We do this in Jamaica, called the Pushcart Derby, and two Americans who lived in Jamaica saw that and thought it looked like bobsledding," he said."They came to the army looking for athletes, and that's when I initially heard and as I mentioned, I was not interested. ... I thought it was the most absurd, ridiculous idea ever conceived by a man and I remember saying nobody could ever get me to go on one of those things until my Colonel suggested that I try out for the team."With the idea in his head, Harris tried out of the team and earned one of four sports; he was going to attend the 1988 winter Olympics."That day I was literally flying around the beach. I just like, 'Oh,' so I was like, 'Whoa, I'm on the team, right?' Not officially, but yeah, I really felt like Superman," he said.It was the Caribbean country’s first Winter games, but hardly its last. In the years since, Jamaica has appeared at every Winter Olympics outside the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.Team Jamaica will be competing in the 2022 winter games; it has qualified for the four-man bobsled and two other bobsled events in Beijing.On this episode of What happened to...? Harris describes his journey to the 1988 Winter Olympics and Erica speaks with the current Jamaican bobsled team, which is looking to build upon the success of previous teams.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a former multiple-franchiser owner, Alan Payne is familiar with Blockbuster; he had owned over 40 stores in Alaska and Texas. Early on, however, Payne said he noticed issues with how the company had been operating. At its peak, there were over 9,000 Blockbuster stores around the world and many of the stores were corporately owned.While it appeared that Blockbuster was growing, Payne said he identified many financial flaws. In 2010, Blockbuster declared bankruptcy, and by 2014, all corporate-owned stores had shuttered. Payne watched as each of his stores shut down and in 2018, Alan saw his last stores in Alaska close.On this episode of What Happened To...? Erica Vella speaks to Payne about the rise and fall of Blockbuster and finds what caused the once-global brand to disappear. She also speaks to the general manager of the last Blockbuster to hear how she kept her store running.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In March 2012, a 30-minute film produced by U.S.-based not-for-profit Invisible Children and narrated by co-founder Jason Russell, aimed to shed light on Joseph Kony, the leader of the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).He was the target of the Kony 2012 campaign led by Invisible Children, which garnered international attention.Before Invisible Children existed, in 2003, Russell, along with Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, set out to create a film on the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan and travelled to northern Uganda to speak with those who had fled Sudan. Their plans changed when they witnessed the war in Uganda with the Lord’s Resistance Army.Russell, Baily and Poole produced their first film, Invisible Children Rough Cut, and out of that film, the not-for-profit Invisible Children was born.On this episode of What happened to…? Russell speaks about how the idea of Kony 2012 started, how it became a viral sensation after its release and the swift criticism that followed.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Global News podcast What happened to…? Erica Vella finds out what happened to viral video, Kony 2012, which aimed to shed light on the Ugandan militant who founded the Lord’s Resistance Army.Dominic Akena grew up in a small village in Patongo, Uganda; his childhood was spent outside playing with other children in his village.In 2001, when Akena was seven years old, he remembers hearing a lot of commotion early one morning.The LRA had attacked a village close to Akena’s home and from that day, he said his life would change; each night his family would sleep in the woods to avoid the rebel group. That went on for three years.In 2004, Akena decided to sleep in the classroom with his older brother instead of going into the woods with the rest of his family. Just as he was about to sleep one night, he heard a lot of noise from outside of the classroom.That night, Akena and his older brother were abducted by the LRA.On this episode of What happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with Akena about his capture and also learns more about the LRA and how a film produced in 2012 aimed to shed light on the atrocities committed by Kony and LRA.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 15, 2019, the world watched with despair as a fire ripped through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.The flames began just before 7 p.m. local time and spread rapidly throughout one of Europe’s most well-known structures.By 7:40 p.m., the fire had spread to the spire, which collapsed just before 8 p.m.Firefighters worked diligently to save the towers and to keep a bell from collapsing, but their efforts could not save a roof structure that dated to the year 1220.On this episode of Global News What happened to…? Erica Vella looks back on the history of the gothic cathedral and finds out how the fire nearly threatened its future. She also discovers how much work is underway to repair and restore the building.Contact:Email: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices