People have lost everything, say former Yukoners who fled Fort McMurray

Talking to people who have lost everything in the Fort McMurray fire has been heartbreaking, said Ron Bouvier, a former Yukoner now living in the Alberta community.

Bouvier spoke to CBC host Sandi Coleman Wednesday morning from a gas station outside Fort McMurray, where he had been waiting for more than three hours to get gas.

"This morning I got up around 5 o'clock and there were people on the side of the road, they were sleeping in their vehicles, you know, and people that never had nothing with them they found a spot, just slept in their car," Bouvier said.

He said one man who lost everything, including his home, told Bouvier he was waiting for gas for his vehicle and then was heading back to Eastern Canada with no plan to ever return.

Bouvier spoke with another acquaintance who didn't have enough warning before his home was destroyed to recover anything.

"You spend 20 years in Fort McMurray, last night he had to spend the night in the car, he didn't have a chance, he never had a chance, he never got the keys to his camper, he never got nothing, he had to sleep on the side of the road."

Former Whitehorse resident Tom O'Hara spent all night driving from Fort McMurray to a friend's home in Edmonton. It was surreal, he said, with 20,000 people packed into all four south and north bound lanes at the same time.

Many people were sleeping in their vehicles on highway pullouts along the way, he said.

As far as O'Hara knows, his home in Fort McMurray is still standing. But he doesn't know what will happen Wednesday, with more high temperatures and strong winds in the forecast.

Bouvier and his wife Laurie were told to leave their neighbourhood Sunday night, so they were able to find a campsite at Gregoire Lake — about a 45 minute drive from the city.

"I don't see anybody shoving, there's no unrest, there's people walking down the road with jerry cans in their hands and the people that are heading north, they're pulling over and they're picking up these people that are walking and they're giving them a hand to their vehicle," Bouvier said.

He said after they were given the evacuation notice Sunday night a police officer stopped at their home to hurry them along. He realized how serious the situation was when the officer told him, "You're putting my life at risk" by not leaving more quickly, Bouvier said.

"You are putting other people in peril so when the emergency responders and the RCMP tell you to get out, you have to go. I went to reach for my wallet above my counter and he said, 'Leave, now.'"

O'Hara said he might join his wife, who is already out in Ontario on a visit, and he has no doubts that Fort McMurray will survive this fire.

"Fort McMurray people are resilient, they'll bounce back from such a difficult time," O'Hara said, noting the area has already been hard hit by job losses in the oil sector.