Evacuees of Cloverdale fire near Prince Albert hopeful homes remain

About two dozen people evacuated because of the Cloverdale fire near Prince Albert say they are scared, but remain hopeful their homes will be there when it is safe to return.

The evacuees are now staying at Prince Albert’s Holiday Inn Express after they were told to leave their homes. Some had to evacuate with little or no warning.

Tammy Chandler and her husband arrived at the hotel late Monday afternoon. Chandler said they both work from home and, on Monday at around 3 p.m., her husband noticed the blaze not far from their property.

“So we instantly just started grabbing our belongings like our passports and all our photo albums and started hucking them into the car,” said Chandler.

“(We) got computers and whatnot and we were just trying to get the yard in order as best we could, (getting) things away from the house if if was to light on fire.”

The duo were loading up their quads just as police came knocking at their door, telling them they had just one hour to pack up and get out.

“My daughter and her two friends came out and they tried to hose off the house, but it’s so hot it just dried up. You know, everyone’s sort of panicking. You’re kind of in a daze,” she said.

Her home is the dream house the two built eight years ago.

“Everybody’s worried,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“But everybody’s safe. Most people got out. And it’s just … We can rebuild if we need to.”

Mandy Sumners, her husband and their two boys didn’t have time to pack their belongings.

“My husband, one of his friends called him from work and notified him that there was smoke by our house,” said Sumners. “So he left work and had to go pick up our kids from school.

“I was working up at Candle Lake and I had to try to come in, but we were too late to get into our house to get any belongings.”

The family registered with emergency services at the local evacuation centre and were then sent to the hotel.

“We’re worried about our home. We’re scared,” she said, adding the last 24 hours have been a whirlwind with little sleep but a lot of anxiety.

Both families hope to eventually hear from fire officials that their homes are safe and that they can return.

“We’re hopeful that they can save our home,” Sumners added.