A Fort McMurray man is thanking Emergency Response Team members from Sarnia for assessing the aftermath of wildfires within his neighbourhood.
Derek Brush, his wife and their 10-month-old son were among thousands of families evacuating the area early last week.
Local crews in Alberta had texted a photo of his house to confirm there was no fire damage.
“We’ve seen a picture of our house, it’s standing,” he says, noting smoke damage is likely.
Brush says that comes as a relief, considering firefighters were fending off a wildfire as people frantically tried to flee the area.
“You couldn't really go anywhere. People were all lined up single file, everybody was being orderly,” he says.
“The smoke, you look out your mirror and there was this smoke and flames coming behind kind of thing. There was a guy up on the roof of his house giving a play-by-play of how far it was away.”
He recalls being stuck eight hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic, for what would normally be a one hour drive to a setup camp for evacuees.
The family later drove their truck to a friends house in Edmonton on Wednesday, bringing pre-packed suitcases and any valuable items they could grab with them. They flew to London on Sunday and are now staying with family in Wyoming.
He continues to monitor the smoke alarm and security system at their house and is tracking Google Earth pictures for any updates.
Brush says the support from Canadians has been overwhelming, and he hopes it will continue in the future.
“It’s two hours to the next town and five hours to the next city, so whatever is not in the town, we don’t have for supplies,” he says, stressing they will need donations to cleanup and rebuild the area.
The family has been told a safety study of the region will be completed in the next two weeks, although it’s not yet known when residents can return.
