One Alberta workers arrival in Halifax Wednesday night marked the end of an emotional 48 hours for one Shelburne County resident.
Bonnie Shand’s husband, Mark Symonds, is a transport driver for First Canada. He works on an oil field for Canadian Resources Limited, which is located just an hour north of Fort McMurray.
Shand herself lived in the city, now devastated by fire, for five years before returning to Nova Scotia.
READ MORE: Nova Scotians tell emotional stories of escape from Fort McMurray wildfire
Symonds was originally scheduled to fly out of Fort McMurray on Tuesday so he could spend his 10 days off with his wife, but the rapidly spreading wildfire separated him from the airport.
“The fire was between his camp and the airport,” Shand told Global News in a telephone interview.
Although he was located outside of Fort McMurray, Shand still worried about her husband’s safety because she says transportation drivers are always the last to leave the work sites.
“It was horrendous. Just watching it on TV and keeping up-to-date on what was going on,” she said.
“It was pretty, pretty nerve-wracking.”
Her worry subsided once she knew her husband was on a charter flight from the CNRL site to Edmonton, and she quickly began making preparations to get her husband home to Halifax.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire: residents face difficult road to recovery, expert says
Despite numerous phone calls and several attempts to reschedule the flight, Shand says that when her husband arrived at the airport, Symonds was told that he had been moved to first class.
“I just can’t say enough. They’ve just been amazing. ”
Fleeting feeling of relief
Shand drove the three hours to the airport, ready to be reunited with her husband after days of waiting for his safe return.
The first thing she felt when she saw her husband at the airport was relief.
But this moment of relief was fleeting.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray fire: Ottawa to match donations to Red Cross
She still has family in Alberta, a brother-in-law and his family, who are travelling away from the wildfire.
When she last heard from them they had taken refuge at a private campground two hours south of Fort McMurray.
Her husband is scheduled to fly back to CNRL on May 15, but the future remains uncertain.
When asked to reflect on the last 48 hours, Shand only had the residents of Fort McMurray in her thoughts.
“My heart goes out to the people in Fort McMurray,” she said.
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