Former Transcona resident Jared Sabovitch shared some compelling video of his final moments in Fort McMurray as the wildfire forced him out of his home.

Sabovitch, a night shift worker, woke up at around 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday to a wave of text messages about the fires.

Within the hour he was in his car and on the road to Edmonton.

“I realized it was time to go when I saw this mother sprinting with her three-year-old child,” said Sabovitch. “It was just raining fire.”

He decided he needed to document what was happening and took video with his phone as he drove away from his house:

Sabovitch said his neighbour’s lawn was on the fire in the Waterways neighbourhood as he was preparing to leave.

“I didn’t know if I had 30 seconds to grab one more thing from my basement.”

Sabovitch said his house and everything left behind has likely been destroyed.

“None of us really know what happens next,” said Sabovitch.  “I still have a job to go back but I don’t have a life to go back to.”

“The future’s uncertain; I don’t know what’s going to happen with insurance.”

He’s staying at a hotel in Edmonton until he finds out what to do next.

Meantime, some Manitobans working in Fort McMurray are starting to arrive home after the wildfires.

Fort McMurray evacuee Julie DeVries, a teacher, was reunited in Winnipeg with her boyfriend Jesse Livingston at Richardson International Airport on Thursday.

DeVries said she's not sure when her school will reopen and doesn't know if she'll have a home to go back to.

“We’re in Timberlea, so they’re keeping an eye on it,” said DeVries. “We don’t know. We’re just waiting. It’s day-to-day.”

“It’s devastating.  I’ve only been there a short while but people’s lives and homes and everything are there.  It’s sad.”

“I just hope my students are safe. My girls that I coach volleyball, I hope they’re good, too.”

DeVries was in the classroom with her students Tuesday afternoon as the fire started to spread into Fort McMurray.

She said she did everything she could to help keep them calm.

“I had kids that were getting panicked about having to be evacuated,” said DeVries. “I think I took the severity away from the situation by doing that with them.”

After the mandatory evacuation was ordered, DeVries fled the wildfires on Tuesday evening with her roommate.

“She’s like, ‘We gotta go, we gotta go. Pack your bags, get going.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ She said, ‘No, I’m serious. We need to leave.’”

“I grabbed all my stuff and I hopped in the car and I headed down to Edmonton,” said DeVries.

DeVries said as soon as she gets the all-clear to head back to Fort McMurray, she will.

Right now, she’s just glad to be spending time with friends and family in Winnipeg.