Flaxee Fawcett sent this story to the Tribune/Weekend Advisor explaining the fear and danger she and her husband Tyler felt while being evacuated out of Fort McMurray Tuesday.
My name is Flaxee and this is my husband Tyler.
We escaped the Fort McMurray flames this past Tuesday and I can say this was the scariest moment of our lives.
My husband and I were separated as we were both at work.
I managed to get home and grab what I could and Tyler managed to get a ride in to town, but not all the way to our house as traffic was so heavy.
I was stuck in traffic being turned around twice back into oncoming flames as Tyler was trying to get to me by foot.
The last time I turned around the flames were close to the road and the smoke was so thick it engulfed any vehicle that drove into it.
There was a lot of wind and large pieces of debris were flying around.
I started panicking. I called Ty and was crying, saying the flames are close and I didn’t know what to do, traffic was at a complete standstill.
I still don’t remember much of what I said. I called my mom as well and she must have heard the severity in my voice because she became hysterical.
In that moment of panic I lost all control of emotion and rationale.
The only thing I could think was “get away from these flames and get to Tyler.”
Firefighters started walking past the vehicles towards the flames.
I yelled at one asking what we should do?
What’s the plan?
His response was my most terrifying option “if I were you I would grab your things and run.”
I’ll never forget those words.
Immediately I drove over the meridian onto the opposite sidewalk, parked the truck and scrambled.
What do I grab?
What do I take?
The smoke was so bad all I thought was, I need water.
So that’s what I grabbed, water and my dog. And fled.
I called Ty immediately and said that I was on foot.
He replied that he was going to meet up with his sister and brother-in-law, to keep running to the highway, he would find a way to get to me.
I continued on, 12 blocks, then hitched a ride to the highway where I was reunited with my husband.
We crawled in the back of the fifth wheel my sister-in-law was towing and remained there six hours until just outside of St. Paul.
We were safe.
All I could do was thank Jesus for this miracle.
