Fort McMurray family to stay at U of S dorm after fleeing fire
Family of four faced wall of fire and smoke before leaving burning Alberta city
A family of four has made its way to Saskatoon from Fort McMurray, saying goodbye to a place they called home for the past two years due to burning flames and billowing smoke.
"It's a city and you would think that it's safe from things like this. I've never seen anything like this in my life," said Abdurrahmann Murad. "It's beyond words, you can't describe it.I could never imagine for a moment that something like this could happen."
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Murad, along with his wife and two daughters, left Fort McMurray during the voluntary evacuation.
Although they were told they would be safe in their home downtown, Murad said what he saw made him take immediate action.
"The fire was literally just pouring down the hill and the trees were just lighting up and blasting into fire. I thought to myself, 'It can't be voluntary, pretty soon it will be mandatory.'"
That's when he told his wife to pack up all of their important belongings and head to the car with their kids.
The family headed south to Lac La Biche, Alta.
"On the way out it was crazy," explained Murad. "I've never seen that much smoke billow out the black, the white, the red, the yellow even it's just,I don't know, it's indescribable."
Help along the way
The family spent Tuesday night at one of the evacuation centres set up in Lac La Biche. And despite all of the chaos, Murad's wife Qudsia Karimi says the help they received was overwhelming.
"They were just trying to do everything to make people feel comfortable. Make the evacuees feel welcomed," said Karimi.
After spending most of the day in Lac La Biche, the family decided to travel to Saskatoon to stay at a friend's place and look intoother housing options for the rest of the month of May. Despite being displaced, Karimi and her family are remaining positive.
"Enjoy what we can with the kids. Be happy that we're safe. We're good. We're in good company. We're in Canada, we're safe."
The family is moving into a dorm room at the University of Saskatchewan Friday evening and will stay there for the next couple of weeks.
Like so many others,all they can do right now is watch and hope they can return home sooner than later. And that's what they want to return to Fort McMurray to help rebuild the community.
"I know the Fort McMurray community it's strong, it's resilient, it's vibrant and I'm sure we'll come back from this stronger than before. And we're all hopeful for the future so we're trying our best," said Murad.
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