A Fort McMurray couple arrived back in the city today hoping to be escorted to their wildfire-ravaged home to search through the rubble.

Instead, Terry and Tanya Brittain pulled up in front of the driveway that used to lead to their Beacon Hill home, pulled on safety equipment and cut through the fence themselves.

“We’ve called three times to the Rubicon company with no response back,” said Tanya Brittain, referring to Team Rubicon, the disaster response team helping to clean up the area and sift through the ashes.

Upon pulling up to the site, Tanya Brittain remarked that their patio set was still standing, but their house was not.

The two sifted through the rubble finding items such as Tanya Brittain’s grandmother’s sterling silver tea set and her daughter’s earrings and necklaces. Their time to themselves was short-lived however, as the RCMP turned up.

“This is my property. I’m being safe,” Terry Brittain said, pointing to his mask and safety suit.

RCMP recognized that this was his property, but weren’t convinced to let them stay.

“There are sharp things in there. There are thing that we don’t know about, there’re basements,” said Bob Couture, director of emergency management. “If you don’t know what you’re doing you’re going to get hurt.”

In the meantime, the couple have the few trinkets that they found which, according to Tanya Brittain, may not be much but it’s all they have.

Residents whose homes are standing but are in an area that is fenced off were also allowed back to see and search through their homes for belongings.

With a report by CTV Edmonton’s Shanelle Kaul