A local couple is back in South Delta after last week's mass evacuation from Fort McMurray.
John Gandola has been working as a pipe fitter in the Northern Alberta town on and off since 2010. His girlfriend Leandra Cookson, who works in customer service for Air Canada, joined him there a year ago.
Both went to work as usual last Tuesday. Gandola, who works at an oil patch site about an hour out of town, said small fires could be seen off in the distance on Monday, but they didn't seem like it was anything to be concerned about.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gandola said the crew received a call from management that parts of town were being evacuated and everyone was being sent
home. "Traffic was pretty rough," he said, and he got home at around 5:30 p.m. At that time, his neighbourhood of Parsons Creek was only under voluntary evacuation notice and Cookson, who is originally from Richmond, was still at work at the airport, which is about 30 kilometres south of the city.
"I didn't think we were going to be evacuated," Gandola said, adding that the skies over his neighbourhood were clear blue. There was no indication that the situation was about to take a drastic turn.
After heading out to try to help a friend retrieve his dog, Gandola got home to hear that evacuation was now mandatory. Highway 63, the only highway in and out of Fort McMurray, had been closed to southbound traffic, forcing everyone to head north towards the oil field work camps.
Gandola was not happy with the thought of heading north. There is nothing north of the city, aside from the oil fields.
"The highway comes to a dead end," he said, adding that Cookson was stuck at the airport to the south.
"I didn't want to put any more distance between us.... The last thing I wanted to do was go north." He knew crews were working to open a southbound route out of town, so he waited.
"I was probably the last person in my neighbourhood, it was like a ghost town," he said.
As soon as Gandola heard that there was a window to drive south, he hopped in his truck, grabbing his bike, he said in case of a breakdown or just needed to get around traffic.
As he was leaving he came across two women standing on the street with some luggage. With no other way out of town, they had called a cab.
Gandola said he was doubtful a taxi would be able to make it to them so he loaded up their luggage and they began the slow trudge south.
As they made their way out of Fort McMurray, Gandola said, there were trees, buildings and whole neighbourhoods going up in flames on both sides of the highway. He said they had to have to windows up and the air conditioning on due to the intense heat coming from the out-ofcontrol blaze.
"It was just shocking to see neighbourhoods going up on both sides," Gandola said, and trees instantly igniting in flames.
He said the trees were igniting so quickly it sounded like bombs going
off."It was hell. It was raining ash and embers." It took Gandola four hours to drive the 30 kilometres to the airport to meet Cookson. It was 11 p.m. at this point and the couple and their passengers continued south. They dropped the two women off at Highway 881, where they happened to find the cab driver who had been looking for them.
The couple continued south but with fuel getting low, they stopped in Wandering River, a small town about 200 kilometres south of Fort McMurray. There was no gas left and the couple stopped to sleep on the side of the road and wait for the fuel delivery. They weren't alone. Gandola said there were thousands of vehicles on the side of the road as people fleeing the fire started to run out of fuel.
After getting gas, the couple continued south. With few supplies and little more than the clothes on their backs, they stopped in Athabasca, a town another 100 kilometres south, for food and supplies.
Gandola said businesses in the town were doing whatever they could to help people displaced by the fire.
Cookson only had what she had worn to work Tuesday morning and was wearing a pair of Gandola's pants and a shirt and slippers.
A local clothing store, Elle's Closet, helped outfit her. The store was offering discounts to all Fort McMurray residents and had a bin of clothes that had been donated that they were giving away for free.
"We were really, really thankful to them," he said.
Rexall Drugs also helped Cookson, who is a diabetic and didn't have any of her supplies with her, and made sure she had everything she needed. "It was really heartwarming to see all the help," he said.
The couple finally made it to a hotel in Edmonton on Wednesday night - some 38 hours after the whole ordeal began.
After spending a few days in Edmonton, the couple headed home to the Lower Mainland on Saturday.
Gandola said they are unsure what will happen next, if there is anything to go back to, but were looking forward to seeing family and friends.
The fire continues to ravage the area, growing in size to more than 200,000 hectares, and the damage is estimated to run into the billions.
