You wouldn’t know on first glance that Roy and Adrienne Munnings fled along with more than 80,000 other people from Fort McMurray.
Eating breakfast on Thursday morning in Socrates Restaurant, they had smiles on their faces. After all, they’re alive and uninjured.
“It’s a bit nutty to try and explain,” Roy said of having to pack up and leave their home as the fire raged.
The Munnings live in the north part of Fort McMurray, in the Timberlea neighbourhood.
Roy, a long-haul truck driver, said the previous few days had been nothing but clear blue skies. Beautiful weather.
They could see smoke in the distance, and thought it was a forest fire. Forest fires aren’t an uncommon problem in an area filled with boreal forest.
They went downtown to pick some things up. Parking lots are almost always full, Roy said, but this time the big box store they stopped at only had about 20 vehicles there. That wasn’t normal.
Now they could see flames shooting up into the air.
“That ain’t good,” Roy said he thought. So he and Adrienne picked up some supplies in case they had to leave.
Then they went home, where it was still blue skies and no wind – but chunks of stuff were now floating through the air.
They went over to see a friend, and were passed by several 4x4 vehicles and motorbikes.
They went home and decided to get out, grabbed some food and enough clothes for a few days, and hit the road.
They started to realize as they drove they should have packed more clothes. It could be awhile before they go home or back to work.
“You’re thinking it’s just short term, but it’s going to be long, long term,” Roy said.
It was bumper to bumper on their way out. They even saw lightning that seemed to be caused by the clouds of smoke.
The couple is off to Vancouver to stay with family, and had stayed just north of St. Albert on Wednesday night.
They were touched by gestures like the one made at Socrates, which was offering free meals to Fort McMurray residents on Thursday.
“People are so good that way,” he said.
Henry LeDrew, another Fort McMurray evacuee, was also impressed with the kindness he witnessed as he made his way south.
“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” he said. He was also at Socrates on Thursday, having stayed in St. Albert overnight on his way to a campground near Plamondon.
People were offering free meals, free gas, even water, all willing to share what they had. LeDrew said it made him proud to be a Canadian.
LeDrew is a municipal employee and works in the sewer and water departments. He ended up delaying leaving for a bit, helping do things like load up buses with food.
But the smoke got so bad he decided to leave with a friend. It took eight hours to do what is normally a 4.5 hour drive, he said.
The scenes he saw as he left the northern city were almost unreal.
“It was like watching a movie,” he said. “Smoke everywhere, you’re seeing people walking down the road with their kids and a gas can, looking for gas … ambulances and fire trucks going everywhere.”
He lives in Thickwood, and so far it appears his home might have just suffered smoke damage. The people across the street weren’t so lucky, and his sisters also may have lost their homes.
He’ll await word from his boss on whether or not he’s needed to help again.
Aiyaz Ali, the owner of Socrates restaurant, said he’d probably keep the free meals going through Thursday night and then switch to some kind of donation drive.
“It’s just something small we could do,” he said of why he was offering up meals to evacuees.
Like many in Alberta, Ali knew someone who was in Fort McMurray. He said people who have come in have been touched about the gesture of the free meals.
Ali’s efforts are just one example of the many businesses, groups and individuals who have pulled together in St. Albert to raise money or supplies for evacuees.
Chris Fitchenberg was in the north Walmart parking lot on Wednesday night with a trailer, collecting items to take down to the Edmonton Emergency Relief Services Society.
With the word spread through friends and family, lots of people stopped by to drop off goods, including new bedding and pillows. Fitchenberg said the bedding was especially well received by the society and was likely put immediately to use.
Fitchenberg has a construction company and wanted to do something to help.
“Originally we wanted to put our fuel tanks to use,” he said, and they were planning on going up the highway to give out gas. But he made some calls and it was clear they didn’t want people not trained as emergency responders doing so.
So they decided to haul items into Edmonton. He estimates by 8 p.m., they had collected between $2,500 and $3,000 worth of goods.
He was impressed with people’s willingness to give, and also impressed to see all the volunteers helping in Edmonton.
“(It’s) inspirational to know people can do a lot and want to,” he said.
