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Estevan will always be the first home for Nolan Haukeness.
But the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, has become a second home for Haukeness, the son of Lyle and Jody Haukeness of Estevan.
He moved to the city in 2005. It鈥檚 where he met his wife, Jenine, who hails from Portugal Cove, Newfoundland. The couple had purchased a duplex in the city鈥檚 Abasand subdivision, and they have made a lot of friends in the city.
But their lives, and the lives of more than 80,000 Fort Mac residents, were changed on May 3, when a mandatory evacuation order was issued for the city due to a dangerous wildfire sweeping northeast Alberta.
Haukeness said they first started to see the smoke from the fire a couple days earlier, when it was about 1.5 kilometres away. Some Fort Mac residents were evacuated that night, but were allowed to return the following day.
On the morning of May 3, he went to work at the city鈥檚 hospital, where he is a donor relations officer with the Northern Lights Health Foundation.
鈥淎t about 1:30 in the afternoon 鈥� I looked up the hill by our neighbourhood of Abasand 鈥� it takes me three minutes to drive to work 鈥� and 鈥� all I could see was black (smoke) and even some tinges of red, so I knew things were starting to get bad,鈥� he said in an interview with the Mercury.
Haukeness decided to return home. Before he could complete the short drive home, a mandatory evacuation order had been issued.
鈥淭he RCMP had stopped us at the bottom of the hill, and said to get what you can and get out,鈥� said Haukeness.
When he reached his home, his wife 鈥� who is pregnant and had just undergone gall bladder surgery a few days earlier 鈥� had started packing. They fled with a few bags, their prescriptions, the deed to the duplex and their dog, and got in their car.
鈥淭here鈥檚 only one way in and one way out from our neighbourhood of Abasand, so by that time, everybody was trying to leave at the same time,鈥� said Haukeness. 鈥淏y the time we left, traffic was backed up all the way to our driveway, which was about half a kilometre from the exit to go down the hill to the main road.鈥�
They tried to bypass the line through another route, only to encounter the fire. They returned to the lineup, and remained immobile.
鈥淚t was after about half an hour of waiting in this line, and trying to get out, when finally an RCMP officer came up to us and said 鈥榊ou guys got to get out, and you got to run,鈥欌�� recalled Haukeness. 鈥淭he fire had started hitting the tree tops behind us, and it caught a house on fire behind us, and there were houses on fire in front of us.
鈥淲e were almost trapped in this narrow street, so we just ditched our car, and grabbed the dog, and the bag that had the prescriptions in it, and the deed to the house.鈥�
They met up with their neighbours from the duplex, who picked them up and drove them to safety north of Fort McMurray. The neighbours then allowed the Haukeness family to borrow their car for a few days.
The first night following the evacuation was spent at the Creeburn Lake Lodge workers鈥� camp north of Fort Mac, where they were surrounded by other evacuees. Amid the tears, the emotion and the uncertainty, they were looking for people they knew.
鈥淲e knew what we went through trying to get out, and we were just amazed, quite frankly, that everyone was able to get out of there,鈥� he said.
A program on Facebook allowed them and other evacuees to check in and let their friends and family know they were safe. 听
The couple woke up early on May 4 and drove to Edmonton, arriving in the Alberta capital late that day.
鈥淲e just decided that with Jenine鈥檚 medical condition, it probably wasn鈥檛 the best for us to be trapped there,鈥� said Haukeness.
The drive to Edmonton took them through Fort Mac, which was virtually deserted. They couldn鈥檛 believe what they saw.
鈥淭here were neighbourhoods that were there the previous morning that are just flattened. It looks like a bomb hit them. It鈥檚 just unbelievable the amount of destruction that you see. It wasn鈥檛 even that bad then. It鈥檚 probably way worse now, because the fire got way worse yesterday (May 5).鈥�
And while they haven鈥檛 received official confirmation that their home was destroyed, they know it鈥檚 gone.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen some grainy video of our neighbourhood, and there鈥檚 actually some kind of geomatics team that has posted some stuff from Google images, and they鈥檝e done some mapping, and our whole neighbourhood 鈥� is gone,鈥� said Haukeness.
鈥淵ou can barely even see chimneys. You know how when somebody鈥檚 house burns down you usually see the chimney? That鈥檚 even gone. It鈥檚 like a tornado went through.鈥�
He hasn鈥檛 cried about losing their home, even though they worked really hard to save enough money for the down payment.
But he does get emotional when he thinks about the support shown by others.
When travelling from north of Fort McMurray to Edmonton on May 4, they were stuck in a lineup of vehicles, and they were running short of fuel.
鈥淔inally, we saw a guy with some jerry cans of gas,鈥� said Haukeness. 鈥淗e told us 鈥� and I wish I would have got the guy鈥檚 name 鈥� that he got laid off the previous month, and he said 鈥業鈥檓 not working, so I may as well help out. Me and my friends all pitched in some money, and we got about a thousand bucks together, and we went and bought a dozen jerry cans from Walmart and filled them, and we鈥檙e just driving up and down the highway here, giving people as much gas as we can.鈥�
鈥淭hat guy really saved us, because we were stuck in that lineup, and we didn鈥檛 want to be sitting there forever.鈥�
They received enough gas to get out of the lineup and drive to a gas station on another road.
鈥淏ecause of the gas that guy gave us, we were able to make it to that gas station,鈥� he said.
When they were clothes shopping in Edmonton on May 6, they received a 75 per cent discount for his wife鈥檚 maternity clothes because they鈥檙e from Fort McMurray, causing Jenine to start crying. The sales representative at an Enterprise Rental outlet in Edmonton cried and hugged them when she heard their story.
鈥淭he kindness of strangers has just been unbelievable. Everywhere you look, there are signs for people from Fort McMurray.鈥�
And while they haven鈥檛 had to visit the evacuation centres, they have heard stories about the hospitality and care at those shelters.
The couple has decided they will stay in Estevan, and travelled to the Energy City on May 7. They want to be around family and friends while they wait for the opportunity to return to Fort Mac. A lot needs to happen before they can return.
He noted they moved to Kelowna, B.C., in 2014, but returned to Fort Mac 10 months later because they missed the city and its people. And they鈥檙e going to return to Fort Mac again, rebuild their home and once again live in a city they love.听
