'Like Armageddon': N.L.ers in Fort McMurray describe their wildfire escapes

Among the more than 80,000 people forced to leave behind everything they own in Tuesday's evacuation of FortMcMurraywere thousands of Newfoundlanders andLabradorians, many of them now coming forward with their harrowing stories of escape from the devastating wildfire.

"It was smoky. It wasn't quiteblackblack, but it was very apocalyptic looking. Very scary. There was pine needles raining from the sky, there was flankers falling," AmyGoodwin, originally fromWabush, recalled of her family's trek to safety.

• LIVE|Breaking updates on the Fort McMurray wildfire

Goodwinwas one of the lucky ones in FortMcMurrayshe had time to pack up some family belongings and their dog, before meeting her two kids and husband downtown to head north to the safety of theSuncorcamp.

The family made it, but the stenchof the destruction lingers with her.

"Smells like a lot of money being burned, and a lot of dreams down the toilet," she said.

'Complete pandemonium'

Jenelle Ropson, from Pollard's Point,said in the courseof half an hour, the flames swept towards her neighbourhood of Grayling Terrace, putting her home in danger.

"Ihonestly can't describe it, I've never seen anything like that before in my life. It was just complete darkness, the sun was just barely shining through," she told CBC News.

Smells like a lot of money being burned, and a lot of dreams down the toilet. - Amy Goodwin

She and her boyfriend, their truck low on gas, tried desperately to fill up.

"It wascomplete chaos. all the gas stations started running out of gas.And there was one left, and people were just driving down the opposite side of the road, over the meridian, it was just complete pandemonium, like Armageddon," she said.

Their truck broke down just after the fill-up, leaving them stranded on the side of the road, waiting for a friend to pick them up. Even atthat low point, Ropson said the people of Fort McMurray pulled together to help her out.

"As much as it was everybodyfor themselves, get out, get out, it truly is amazing how people were still stopping, [asking]'are you ok', trying to toss bottles out their windows, 'here, take a water.'"

Separated from loved ones

While Ropson and her boyfriend togethermade it to the safety of a Syncrude camp, Mel Hillier of Grand Bank was among those familiesseparated in the chaos of evacuation.

Hillierhad three of his four young children with him as they packed up to also head north, but his 13-year-old daughter was not. When he missed the time window to pick her up at school, she was packed onto a bus and sent north with other students.

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Cellphone coverage was down, and Hillier was frantic.

"It was quite scary. You know in the back of your mind, of course she's safe, they evacuated her. But the uncertainty of not knowing," he said.

"Thank god for social media.Iwas making posts on Facebook, and through a friends-of-friends type of thing, amutualfriend of mine seen her at the camp he was already at and got in touchwith us."

The family is now reunited, but Foss said the effects of their escape are only beginning to show in his children.

"Ithink they're a bittraumatizedthey were crying a lot the first day."

War zone

Similarly, Blake Crossley from Corner Brook said his two sons, 11 and 14, have now seen things he never wanted them to.

The Crossleysinitially headed north when the alertto evacuate the city came blaring across their television, but aware of the lack of communities ahead, they decided to turn around, drive through townand try to make it down Highway 63.

He was unprepared for what lay ahead.

"Isaw hotels on fire, Isaw people's homes on fire.Ihave two kids...and Ijust kept saying, just close your eyes. But they wanted to see it," he said.

"It's like somebody took a bomb and decided to blow the place up. It's just pure destruction. And it just shows you what the force of fire can do."

Up in smoke

Doug Norman, who moved to Fort McMurray from Gander 10 years ago, gives credit to the camps for being organized and welcoming to the evacuees.

After what was usually ahalf hour drive north to Syncrudeturned into a seven-hour slog, he and his family arrived in camp to find workers welcoming them with open arms.

"There were people everywhere,but they allowed everyone to bring your pets and everything else and your family, and they gave you a quiet little room," he said.

A knock on the door the next morning signaled another evacuation, as the company organized charter busses for those who didn't have the means to make it south on their own.

But the drive south meantreality began sinking in.

"To think that everything you worked hard foris all gone up in smoke.And the only thing you have left is the few pairs of clothes you have thrown in the back of the truck. That was a hard moment," he said.

'We will rebuild'

Norman, and everyone whoescaped and told their story to the CBC, said among the panic and devastation, there isa sense of communitythat no fire can extinguish.

"The whole community is going through the same thing.To me it makes it a bit easier because you know everyone is looking out for each other," said Norman.

"It's not just one random house that burned down. It's the whole community that's suffering."

Blake Crossley doesn't know for sure what his familylost, but he said that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

"All that can be replaced. Lives cant be replaced," he said.

Like many, Amy Goodwinsaid her city isn't lost, thanks to a certain East Coast tenacity.

"Like all Newfoundlanders, we will rebuild."