Fort McMurray principal flees wildfire with busload of students, then reunites families

A Fort McMurray principal is being credited with saving more than a dozen students as a wildfire raged through the town.

Lisa Hilsenteger, 50, has been principal of Father Turcotte Elementary School for four years.

READ MORE: Homeowner watches his Fort McMurray house burn on security cam

Hilsenteger said she and her staff were helping other schools with their evacuations when it became clear their own school needed to be evacuated as well.

“The smoke just became too big and parents were just showing up left, right and centre,” she said.

“When do we leave the school? Do we leave now? We still had quite a few children.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "When do we leave the school? Do we leave now? We still had quite a few children."

Hilsenteger left a note on the door of the elementary school for parents saying staff and students were heading north and included her cell phone number.

RELATED: Photos of the Fort McMurray wildfire through the eyes of evacuees

“It really wasn’t a thought process. It was more of a do. We just did. Let’s go and let’s go north. There really wasn’t time to think about, should we or shouldn’t we? We just knew we had to,” she said.

About 15 staff and students got on a school bus and headed to Holy Trinity High School. Then Hilsenteger learned that school was also under an evacuation order.

“We were we were going to have parents there, potentially parents there. We didn’t want to divert our plans yet again,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘This is insane’: Dramatic video shows Fort McMurray residents fleeing raging wildfire

RCMP allowed the bus through to the high school and Hilsenteger said there were a handful of parents waiting to pick up their children.

But that stop would be short-lived – the school bus was heading north yet again.

“We grabbed whatever water was left at the school. Then we had two buses. We decided to take the one that had the most fuel. We switched from one bus to the other bus than decided to continue on to Narolta Lodge,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We grabbed whatever water was left at the school. Then we had two buses. We decided to take the one that had the most fuel. We switched from one bus to the other bus than decided to continue on to Narolta Lodge," she said.

Watch below: Aerial footage shows the devastation in Fort McMurray’s Abasand and Beacon Hill neighbourhoods

1:57 Fort McMurray wildfire: Aerial footage of the destruction in Abasand and Beacon Hill

There were still a dozen students on the bus by this point, ranging in age from four to 12 years old.

“They never said a word. They didn’t cry. They didn’t ask where we were going,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "They never said a word. They didn't cry. They didn't ask where we were going," she said.

“We told the students we’re going to try and find your parents there. If your parents aren’t there, we’re going to go to the next stop and find your parents and we kept reassuring them that we would find their parents.”

READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire: Why the fire engulfed the city within hours

Hilsenteger said she was able to connect some parents with their children by phone.

“That’s when we saw the tears. As soon as they heard their parents’ voices, that’s when the older ones would cry. But they were troopers the whole way through,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That's when we saw the tears. As soon as they heard their parents' voices, that's when the older ones would cry. But they were troopers the whole way through," she said.

As the bus headed north, staff learned that Narolta Lodge was closed so they headed to the Syncrude camp, which was farther north. But on the highway, staff was able to reunite children with their parents.

“That was our goal. To see them finally reunite, that was the best.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That was our goal. To see them finally reunite, that was the best."

When the bus pulled into the Syncrude camp, there were seven children left. One was reunited with a parent who also arrived at the camp.

Around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, staff and students were loaded back onto the bus with the sole goal of getting south to the other side of the city. Along the way, there were more reunions between children and their parents. The last three students, all siblings, were reunited with their family Wednesday afternoon.

“That’s when you can feel the stress leave your body. That’s when you got tired. That’s when I felt like I could take a nap. You’re running on so much adrenaline prior to that,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That's when you can feel the stress leave your body. That's when you got tired. That's when I felt like I could take a nap. You're running on so much adrenaline prior to that," she said.

Hilsenteger struggles with being called a hero, saying the school and its students are a family.

READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire: How Canadians can help

“I think any adult, any teacher, anybody faced with that situation would have done exactly the same thing. Nobody would have left anybody behind,” she said.

She plans to stay in Edmonton with her sister until the wildfire settles down. There are plans for a conference call with school administration Saturday morning along with a meeting with Alberta Education.

But in the meanwhile, Hilsenteger is still processing the wildfire.

“[It’s] still a little surreal. [It’s] incredibly hard to comprehend the mass devastation, hard to predict the future, hard to know what lies ahead.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[It's] still a little surreal. [It's] incredibly hard to comprehend the mass devastation, hard to predict the future, hard to know what lies ahead."