Two weeks ago, a couple who are expecting their first child in September were forced to evacuate from their home in Annapolis County, N.S. due to the Long Lake wildfire.
Michael Zeeman and Meghan Yelland were left wondering when they might be able to go to a home they had lived in for less than a year.
“We just moved in January and put in seven months of renovations,” Zeeman said in an interview shortly after the evacuation.
Over the weekend, winds from Hurricane Erin caused the wildfire to rapidly expand, along with the couple’s uncertainty.
On Sunday, county officials contacted them to say their house had been damaged. A meeting with officials on Tuesday followed.
“It was confirmed that our house has been completely destroyed,” Yelland said.
The couple’s house was located in a remote area, separate from a cluster of houses down the road, they said.
“I think it was just because our house was so isolated, it made it easier for the fire to get to it, there wasn’t as much in the way,” said Yelland. “A lot around us had been cleared for lumber. So the brush was just fuel for the fire. That’s how it just went straight for it.”
When they were forced to evacuate on Aug. 14, Yelland and her husband had just finished putting the final touches on a nursery for their soon-to-arrive baby daughter.
That was when Tori Dawson stepped up to provide some support, opening her doors to the family she had become friendly with while working at the Valley Regional Hospital.
After learning of the home’s destruction, Dawson stepped up again, launching a GoFundMe that has quickly raised more than $14,000 for the family.
“We’re so grateful for what Tori Dawson did for us. We had no idea. And then she, she informed us that she started a page,” Zeeman said. “It’s just incredible how generous people are really.”
In addition, the couple have been getting offers of support from people all across the area.
“People from all over the valley are, you know, they’re travelling to bring us things that we need (to prepare) for the newborn, so we’re very, very grateful,” Zeeman said.
On Wednesday, officials say the fire is now at more than 8,200 hectares, with recent precipitation buying some time for those fighting the blaze.
“We’re moving into a drying trend. We are currently sitting in very serious drought conditions, so fuel is dry and ready for combustion,” David Steeves, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Department, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
“So we can’t really lean on the precipitation that we did receive a few days ago … it gave us a little bit of a reprieve, but we got to go back into all business mode basically.”
Officials say the fire is still very active in the area where the home was lost, so it remains unclear how many homes were lost.
“It’s a dangerous area as the fire moves through it, causing a lot of damage to trees; there’s some old growth there … we don’t want anybody getting hurt, removing those dangers so we can get in to do a full assessment is our utmost priority first,” Nova Scotia’s Department of Emergency Management’s Andrew Mitton said.
While the couple, who both work at a local hospital, suffered what would be a devastating loss for many, they are trying to keep things in perspective.
“We’ve both seen people on the worst days of their lives and we know that it could be so much worse, and the only thing that is irreplaceable is health, and we’re just so grateful that we’re healthy, (the baby) is healthy, and everything else can be replaced.”