Atlantic Canadians who escaped the massive wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., trickled into the Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Wednesday morning, all with stories of smoke and fire.
Canadians from the East Coast make up a large portion of the oilsands workers living in Fort McMurray. It was difficult for some to get flights to Halifax, with many seats booked in advance for workers being rotated out of camps.
Only a handful of people managed to get back to Halifax to awaiting friends and family.
“It was coming towards (Highway) 63, the back of our shop, and at two o’clock the owners told us to shut down and we left,” said Blair Mullen, describing how close the wildfire had gotten to them.
Rob Ryan, an oil worker greeted by his wife, worried mostly for his co-workers who were forced to leave Fort McMurray but weren’t able to get flights out of the city.
“There’s nowhere to go north and you can only go so far and that’s it,” said Ryan. “So they basically have themselves trapped, either north or trapped not being able to go south.”
Most of the oil workers in Fort McMurray come from the east coast and the wildfires have hit particularly close to home for many, whether or not they have family or friends in the area.
Vicki Hutchison’s brother works at Syncrude, just 40 kilometres out of Fort McMurray and one of the camps that has been taking in evacuees from the city. According to Hutchison, her brother isn’t able to get out but it’s not clear whether the roads are blocked or the work simply hasn’t stopped.
Wayne Pardy listened to the sounds of the fire while on the phone with his mother who was driving south on Highway 63 before stopping at an oil camp.
“You could hear propane tanks going off when I was on the phone with her. I heard three, I think, that popped just within a forty minute span,” said Pardy. “Three or four that popped and they sounded like gunshots.”
The worry for many is whether their homes or even their workplaces will still be there when the go back.
With files from CTV Atlantic
