When the MacKay family had to evacuate their home, which was threatened by one of western Canada’s massive wildfires, they figured they could get back there quickly… until a camera in the kitchen started sending them alerts.

“It took about five minutes. And then nothing,” Heather MacKay told AFP, showing on her phone images of smoke entering her kitchen followed by small explosions.

However, thanks to cameras from neighbors who also lost their homes, confirmation of the fire at his home in a quiet neighborhood of West Kelowna, British Columbia, didn’t come until the next day.

“It’s sad to know that it’s all gone,” says his daughter Meliah, 18. “It’s not a big deal what’s replaceable, but there are some things that can’t be replaced,” she emotionally adds.

Through laughter and tears, the family reflects on the long moments of grief they have experienced since Thursday, when gigantic fires that devastated millions of acres across the country reduced part of their neighborhood to rubble and leveled at least 50 homes.

Hundreds of firefighters continue to fight the blaze, the smoke from which blankets much of British Columbia and gives this Pacific Coast province an apocalyptic feel.

– “I laugh and I cry” –

Originally from central Alberta, the MacKay family has moved more than 30 times in three decades.

A few years ago, to be closer to their family, they decided to settle in West Kelowna, a tourist haven of more than 30,000 people, with its vineyards, hiking trails, lakes and beaches.

“We came here to live here permanently,” says the 48-year-old mother, pointing out the irony of the situation. “We’ve moved so many times that we even talked about downsizing,” she adds.

“And now it’s done!” exclaims Shane, her husband, laughing.

“Sometimes we laugh, then we think about things and we cry,” Heather says. “In our joint conversation with the girls, we think of +Barbie’s house+ or +my AirPods+. But for me it’s the memories, like the baby boxes, that are the most important thing,” the mother admits with a trembling voice.

Heather had given each of her children a small box containing their first clothes and other childhood treasures…but all of those memories have since been wiped out by the flames.

“I don’t have my little baby things, but I had an amazing friend who died when I was little, and I’ve had this stuffed animal that she gave me since I was eight, and now…” she said interrupted himself. Her throat was gripped by the tears she had won.

“I had my wedding dress. And we joked about what I would do with it. We’ve moved it at least 30 times,” Heather says questioningly. “We won’t need the wedding anymore. Move again.”

– “We can rebuild” –

Heather and Shane live with Shane’s parents in nearby Peachland. Meliah and her two cats, along with her sister and dog, took refuge in other homes.

“It makes me sick to think about where we’re going to live later…I don’t know what to do,” Heather sighs.

When the evacuation order was issued Thursday afternoon, she was at work and didn’t have time to return home. So she asked her eldest daughter to pack her things.

“It wasn’t a good idea,” she says with a smile, ironically mocking her daughter’s decision to bring her just a few things, including her “pink work suits.”

Each was only able to grab a few pieces of clothing, but luckily Shane remembered to get his wife’s grandfather’s cup of tea, the only family heirloom they have now.

“One day she will have enough clothes to clean up the mess in her room again,” Heather smiles at her daughter.

“The most important thing is that nobody got hurt,” she says, stressing that they “can rebuild one day.”

published Aug. 22 at 8:13 p.m. AFP

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