When the Fort McMurray-based owner and CEO of Stratford Contracting, Shawn Chaulk, semi-retired three years ago, so that he could spend more time with his wife and children, he was “convinced” he would never build another house again.
Then, in May 2016, his community was struck by one of the biggest natural disasters in Canadian history.
Under a massive mandatory evacuation order, Chaulk, along with everyone in the city, were forced to flee their homes on May 3.
“We thought it was the last we’d seen of our house,” Chaulk told CTVNews.ca.
The 49-year-old and his family first relocated to a bush camp north of Fort McMurray, where they spent the night. The next day, they travelled to Edmonton, where they remained for the next five weeks.
While Chaulk’s own Fort McMurray home wasn’t damaged, he remained exiled in Edmonton, where he had little to do but watch the drama unfold on the news.
That’s when Chaulk’s phone started ringing with calls from neighbours and former clients who lost their homes, and wanted to rebuild.
Recalling those conversations a year later, Chaulk said people would phone him and say, “’We already know we lost our home, will you rebuild it?’
“It was a really, really fast turnaround,” he added. “Most people accepted what had happened early.”
In total, the fire destroyed 1,800 single-family homes and forced more than 80,000 people to flee.
Today, Chaulk is no longer semi-retired. It’s been a busy year. He has completed three brand-new homes in Fort McMurray, and his company has 36 more “in various stages” of construction.
He has also completed renovations and repairs on more than 600 homes that were damaged by the wildfire.
In mid-April, his clients Rhonda Bennett and Mike Bennett and their daughter, Shasta Butler, who lives next door with her husband and young children, received the keys to their brand-new homes.
The Bennetts, whose houses were completely destroyed by the wildfire just hours after they fled, were among the first people to contact Chaulk. Rhonda knew Chaulk because he was a customer at the men’s clothing store where she is employed.
In an interview with CTVNews.ca, Rhonda said that Chaulk was the first person that “popped” into her head in the days after the wildfire, because “I knew there was going to be so many people looking for a builder, that we kind of wanted to get ahead of the game.”
So, days after she made contact with Chaulk, they met at a Tim Hortons in Edmonton.
“We just discussed it and he said, that yes, he’d be willing to build our homes,” Rhonda said.
Chaulk had retained original blueprints of the previous homes, and in keeping with Rhonda and her daughter’s wishes, the new houses have the same layout as the ones that were destroyed.
In the past year, there have been some “trying moments,” said Rhonda, who was living in a residence in Fort McMurray while the house was being built.
Now, as the one-year anniversary of the wildfire approaches, Rhonda and her husband are adapting to their new digs.
“When I first came in, and we started moving stuff in, it didn’t feel like my home,” Rhonda said. “And then I was here for a couple of hours and it started to feel like home again.
“Now it’s home.”
Rhonda said she’s noticed a difference in her community since the fire.
“I found that, working in retail, that people tend to have more patience since the fire … and I think (they’re) more considerate because I think so many people have gone through so much,” she said. “I know everybody grieves about stuff like this in different ways, but our main thing was that everybody was OK.”
Despite the “magnitude” of the loss, Chaulk said he’s seen “very few tears” in his meetings with clients.
“I think they just know that they can’t change what happened, they can’t get any of it back per se, it’s gone,” Chaulk said. “So let’s look ahead, let’s rebuild, let’s get it done.”
However, homeowners often become emotional when they show up to watch the rebuilding work begin on their properties.
“People are generally happy to see the rebirth and happy to see the new growth,” Chaulk said. “Some people are relieved.”
Chaulk acknowledged that he and other local contractors have benefited from a significant “upswing” in business due to the wildfire, but says that money wasn’t his motivation.
“It wasn’t a conscious decision,” he said. “It was more of an understanding that we had a role to play, and we needed to do our part.”
Though he’s thrilled to have contributed, Chaulk said he plans to retire fully once his work is completed.
