Sitting in a campground 35 kilometres south of their fire-ravaged home, James O鈥橰eilly and his wife Candace watched their house burn from his smartphone.
鈥淔lames were starting to jump up in the front,鈥� O鈥橰eilly told 麻豆传媒 from Banff on Friday. 鈥淭he smoke -- boom -- hit the side window, and that smoke turns red, and then as you can see in the video, the glass starts breaking and Candace couldn鈥檛 watch anymore. But that gave us confirmation that it was gone.鈥�
The couple鈥檚 harrowing escape from Fort McMurray took them through walls of smoke, ash and flame. They only had time to pack two suitcases before fleeing to Gregoire Lake with two cars and their camper.
In the video captured by their house鈥檚 security camera, you can see smoke billowing outside the couple鈥檚 living room. It thickens as flames lap the edge of the house, then there鈥檚 a crash as the windows break and smoke fills the room. Shrill fire alarms can be heard.
Towards the end of the video, you can just barely see flames dancing beneath the thick, acrid smoke.
O鈥橰eilly, a project manager with Suncor, has called Fort McMurray home for 31 years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 gone -- nothing we can do,鈥� O鈥橰eilly laments. 鈥淲e know that we鈥檙e so lucky.鈥�
