Swan Hills residents had just a short time to grab their things and go after an evacuation order was issued Tuesday afternoon due to a 92,742-hectare wildfire burning just northwest of town.
For evacuee Rose Godfrey, it was a time when planning went out the window.
"You think that you are prepared and you have everything – that's not how it goes when it all goes down," Godfrey said. "You forget things."
Before the evacuation, Godfrey had a plan. But when the moment came and the adrenaline hit, she packed her beads and measuring cups instead of extra blankets and a coat.
"If it was the worst case scenario, then all I have is what is in the truck and some of it is like totally useless," she added.
A reception centre has been set up in Barrhead for Swan Hills evacuees, providing meals and helping residents get settled. Again for Godfrey, things haven't quite gone as planned.
Because of her two dogs, she hasn't been able to find a motel. Instead, she'll be spending her stay sleeping in her truck.
"There wasn't anywhere that the accommodation was accommodating dogs," she said.
Her two dogs are her service animals, Godfrey explained, but they are not legally designated as such.
"I don't have papers for them but they've been with me since they were 15-months-old, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Godfrey added. "To put them in a kennel after that experience would be really traumatic for them."
"They're my support dogs, but I'm also their support too. So I couldn't kennel them."
Godfrey's son, Steev LaBelle rushed to Barrhead from St. Paul when he heard his mom had been evacuated. He's disappointed to see her turned away from accommodations because of her dogs.
"In a situation like this, if you're not dog friendly you are dog friendly now, especially if somebody has service animals," LaBelle said. "It's an emergency."
Godfrey said she heard the wind was going to shift early Thursday morning, and she's hopeful she'll go home soon. Until she does, she said she doesn't mind camping out in the cab of her truck.
"As long as I have these guys I'm fine, I really am. I’ve got food, and I have gas and some blankies," she said. "I don’t have to worry about safety because who’s going to mess with John Wick dogs?"
The Swan Hills Emergency Management Team said the fire is being watched closely, and it had not reached the town as of Wednesday night.
VALLEYVIEW
More than 1,600 people are still waiting to find out when they can return to their homes in Valleyview.
Fire crews in Sturgeon Lake are battling a wildfire that broke out Monday near the community.
The winds changed overnight in their favour.
"We were worried about the wind but the wind is shifted and now it’s going away from us," said Valleyview Mayor Vern Lymburner on Wednesday.
"Our fire department is well equipped and we are able to fight a fire here and still have enough equipment if something happens in town where they can go there."
There are eight fires burning in the Municipal District of Greenview. Six of them are threatening nearby communities, including Valleyview.
"Everyone has been really good, they’ve been really patient. Everything is a work in progress and we’ve never had anything like this happen before," said Tyler Olsen, the reeve for the MD of Greenview.
Olsen says 12 kilometres of fireguard has been established around Valleyview since the fire broke out.
"With this weather, it has not been as bad with the winds not creating, so everything is still slow growing but it’s all still there. We’re not out of the woods yet, we need rain for a lot of this to change."
There are no reports of structures being damaged by fire in the town.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Miriam Valdes-Carletti and Alison MacKinnon
