A former Oamaru man and his family were caught up in the raging wildfire in northern Alberta, Canada as tens of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes.
Craig Rowland, a Waitaki Boys' High School old boy, and his family were forced to wait about an hour at their Fort McMurray home - under a mandatory evacuation order - as smoke filed the sky.
''I could see the tops of the flames, just over the tops of the houses from where we were,'' he said, speaking from the highway with his family of five.
''You know what, it was really quiet. I couldn't believe it.
''We were all just standing there looking at the sky, big billows of smoke coming from the houses just over the road. That's what it looked like any way.
''It was a crazy sensation.
''It was calm. Everyone was just sitting there . . . and we would sort of talk to each other and we were like 'We've got to go but we can only go as far as the end of the street.'''
Mr Rowland, his wife Lara, their 10-week-old son Eddie, 20-month-old son Jack and their Scottish terrier had been driving for three and a half hours and had travelled only 50km north of the city.
The 2650ha fire was discovered three days earlier but shifted aggressively with the wind on Wednesday morning (NZT). It quickly doubled in size and breached city limits.
Canadian media reported 35,000 people had fled the city heading south towards the provincial capital Edmonton 430km away, and 17,000 people had fled the city north, heading to work camps for the oil sands which support the city. Estimates ranged from 80,000 to 60,000 people forced out of their homes.
Both Mr and Mrs Rowland work for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd in Alberta's oil sands for and they were among those headed for a work camp.
Working the night shift, the day before, he had not worried about the fire.
''The updates we were getting was things were going to be calm, things were under control, and not to worry . . . and within 12 hours everything's just gone. The wind just switched south and pushed everything into town.''
