A painting of Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen has been making the rounds on social media and lifting the spirits of those who have seen it.

Evacuee Russell Thomas decided to paint the portrait once he had gotten settled into Calgary after fleeing Fort McMurray.

Thomas was outside of Fort McMurray when the evacuation notice came, and was unable to re-enter the city to reunite with his family.

His family managed to go north towards the camps while Thomas continued south to Calgary.

鈥淏ehind the Chief are hundreds of people that saved the life of my family and the lives of thousands and thousands of people,鈥� said Thomas, explaining that the painting of Allen acts as a metaphor for all of the first responders who have helped during the wildfire.

The vivid colours used to paint Allen鈥檚 face are supposed to represent the range of emotions he would have felt at that time.

Thomas posted a picture of the painting to his Twitter page that night and woke up to hundreds of messages and retweets, including one from Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

鈥淗e鈥檚 been our strength through all of this and he鈥檚 been the strength for dozens and dozens of men and women that are on the front lines of this fire,鈥� said Thomas. 鈥淗is courage and his heart, we鈥檝e seen it in all of the reports and the way he connects to the community. He鈥檚 become a Canadian hero.鈥�

After getting requests from people to buy the painting, Thomas plans to figure out a way to make prints of the painting to raise money for fire relief efforts and to help other evacuees from Fort McMurray.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of people that want to hang that painting in either their new house that鈥檚 going to be built or in their old house,鈥� said Thomas.

Thomas, who is also the director of communications and community impact at the United Way of Fort McMurray, has done other paintings in relation to the wildfire. He plans to release more in the coming weeks.