A Manitoba man driving through Fort McMurray Wednesday morning witnessed the destruction from the massive wildfire raging in the northern Alberta city.

Josh Vaags works for Syncrude, near Beaver Lodge work camp north of Fort McMurray, and got a call Tuesday morning that work was cancelled due to the wildfires.

Reached by phone near Lac La Biche, Alta., Vaags described what he called a chaotic situation.

“You could see the smoke from a distance,” said Vaags. “They were evacuating the whole city (on Tuesday) and sending people up to the camps we were staying at.”

 

“Last night (Tuesday), it was just crazy,” said Vaags. “Everybody was trying to evacuate south or north to the camps.”

“There were just families flooding in all throughout the evening into the night. It was definitely pretty sad to see. You see all these families coming in that they’re not sure if they’re going to have a house to go back to.”

Vaags and his brother left camp Wednesday morning and drove south through Fort McMurray on Highway 63.

“Luckily, the road was open,” he said. “The winds were down and that’s a big part of it.”

“We saw a lot of the aftermath this morning – a hotel that was burnt down on the side of the highway, a trailer park. There was pretty much nothing left of it and just a lot of vehicles scattered all over the road and in the ditches.”

 

Vaags said he and his brother are waiting to hear from their employer about their work schedule. He said for now, their job has been put on hold. Vaags said right now the focus is on the employees who live in Fort McMurray.

“A lot of these full-time employees, they live in Fort McMurray. Some of them, if not quite a few them, lost their houses, so obviously that’s priority before getting back to this job.”

The brothers may stay in Edmonton or head back to Manitoba, depending on their work schedule.