A Slave Lake, Alberta, couple were vacationing in scenic Cape Breton when they got the devastating call.
"Your house has burned down . . . I checked on it last night and it was on fire," their stepson told them over the phone.
Pat and Doreen Tompkins' lives shifted abruptly with the call, as they soon helplessly learned that much of their community was lost to fast-moving wildfires.
The couple has since returned to Alberta from their two-week vacation. Pat Tompkins is back to work at a community outside of Slave Lake and his wife is staying with relatives in Calgary.
Pat Tompkins told CTV Atlantic that they lost everything to the fire.
"I don't have anything, all our photo albums are gone, my truck in the garage, that's gone, basically everything in the house is gone," he said over the phone.
Pat is originally from Nova Scotia and still has family there.
"I can't imagine my neighbourhood, my community being gone," his sister-in-law, Anita Tompkins said from Milton, N.S.
Residents are still not allowed to return to Slave Lake.
Officials say that donating money is the best way to help the residents.
With a report from CTV Atlantic's Alyse Hand
