As firefighters survey the wreckage from last week's devastating wildfire in and around Fort McMurray, one displaced family has been reunited in Innisfail.
After more than 24 gruelling hours travelling south from Fort McMurray last Tuesday, with very little water, food or gas, a Fort McMurray family is together again.
“We feel very happy to be here and we feel safe here. It was complete chaos,” said Ford Bradbury, his voice quivering as he tried to hold back tears.
Ford, his wife Ruby, granddaughters Chantelle and Stephanie and her husband Jared, and grandson Tyler, are staying with Innisfail family members Gerald and Karen Bradbury.
Everyone agreed it's been an emotional time for the entire family the past few days.
“We planned on going over to my granddaughter's place (Stephanie Penney). We figured we'd be there maybe a day or two, so we just had the clothes on our back,” he added.
Ford was able to gather a few items and his medications before he and other family members fled Fort McMurray on May 3.
“I had to grab my stuff, get my grandparents and go,” said Chantelle Langdon, one of Bradbury's two granddaughters. “A normal 15-minute drive to (my sister) Stephanie's place took me three hours. I was driving next to the flames on the side of the road, which was a little scary.”
Langdon, 30, lived with grandparents Ford and Ruby and her parents Marilyn and Chad Langdon in Fort McMurray, the latter now attending a wedding in the Dominican Republic. They will arrive in Innisfail later in the week.
Chantelle's sister Stephanie and her husband Jared Penney, both 27, lived in the northern part of the city. They, along with Langdon, cousin Tyler Bradbury and their grandparents left Fort McMurray about 7 p.m. last Tuesday evening (May 3).
During their anxious journey south, they saw hundreds of vehicles stranded by the side of the road without gas, water or food.
“All along the highway it was incredible. People were giving out water bottles, snacks, food and free gas,” said Penney. “There were volunteers, people, and truckloads of supplies along the highway.”
The family members, travelling in different vehicles, eventually all made it safely to St. Albert where they met up with Gerald and Karen Bradbury. They arrived in Innisfail just after 7 p.m. last Wednesday evening, far from the flames and devastation in Fort McMurray.
“It feels really good to be here, but at the same time we feel very helpless because we left with very little,” said Langdon, adding they're uncertain about the current situation and the state of their homes in Fort McMurray. “We're not a hundred per cent sure. We have no idea about Stephanie and Jared's place either.
Langdon noted the support and assistance the family received from nearby friends in Red Deer. Langdon fought to hold back tears as she described how friends are rallying together to help her family and others from Fort McMurray.
“They're collecting food just to help us out here,” she said. “They're giving us gift cards for groceries, gift cards for my grandparents to buy clothes and the Innisfail Boarding Kennels is offering help too. They're buying some dog food for our dogs.
“It's overwhelming. People are being so generous,” she added.
Ford Bradbury
"We feel very happy to be here and we feel safe here. It was complete chaos.
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