“It lasted about five minutes. And then nothing,” said Heather MacKay, 48, showing images on her phone of smoke billowing from her kitchen before small explosions.

Confirmation that the flames had destroyed his home in a quiet West Kelowna neighborhood in Canada came the following day, Friday, thanks to cameras from his neighbors, who also lost their homes.

“It’s sad to know that everything is gone. I feel good with what is replaceable, but there are things that cannot be replaced,” laments her daughter Meliah, 18.

Meliah, along with Heather and her husband Shane, spoke to AFP at a restaurant in nearby Kelowna, where the mother works as a hairdresser.

They recounted between laughter and tears the hours of suffering they have endured since Thursday when massive forest fires, which have already consumed thousands of hectares in southern Canada, charred part of their neighborhood.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling the flames on the ground and in the air, but so much is hell that smoke blankets miles of land, giving an apocalyptic look to the province of British Columbia, where at least 50 homes have been flattened.

“I laugh and I cry”

The MacKays, from neighboring Alberta, have moved more than 30 times in three decades, but to be closer to their families, they decided a few years ago to settle in West Kelowna, a tourist paradise of more than 30,000 inhabitants. with wine routes, cycling and walking routes, lakes and beaches.

“We came here to live permanently. We’ve moved so many times that we’ve talked about downsizing,” Heather says, “and it’s done!” her husband quickly adds.

“We laugh sometimes, then we think about certain things and we cry,” Heather says ruefully. “The girls and I are talking together and suddenly they let go: Barbie’s house! Or my airpods! But for me it’s the memories” that count, she said in a broken voice.

Heather gave each of her four children boxes containing their first clothes and other childhood treasures, but those memories were lost in the fire.

“I no longer have my baby things, but I had a great friend who died when I was little and that’s why since the age of eight I kept this soft toy that she gave me. ‘offered, and now…”, she interrupts her testimony when she wins the tears.

“I had my wedding dress and we joked about it: what was I going to do with it? We loaded it in about 30 moves, so I guess now everything is fine, we won’t have to load it anymore” , she says, this time accompanied by laughter.

“I’m like that. I laugh and I cry, I cry and I laugh,” he admits.

Shane is more pragmatic in the face of the drama: “What else can we do? We must continue,” he says.

“We can rebuild”

Heather admits she’s overwhelmed.

The family is divided: Heather and Shane have moved in with her parents in neighboring Peachland. Meliah with her two cats and her sister with her dog were staying in other houses. The two eldest fortunately did not live with their parents.

“I feel nauseous when I try to decide where to live. We go to see houses and I feel bad (…) I don’t know what to do,” the woman said.

One of the problems they face is keeping the core together, as they can’t find a place that allows them to keep all the animals together.

“It’s going to affect our family dynamics,” Heather anticipates.

But in the meantime, they try to adapt to their new daily life with the few – and random – things they packed before leaving the house.

Heather was working when the evacuation alert came Thursday afternoon and authorities wouldn’t let her in, so she asked her eldest daughter to pack. “It was not a good decision”, he says smiling and with a certain irony on the choices of the young woman.

Meliah barely picked up her gym clothes, while Shane took a suitcase he had packed for an upcoming vacation trip and his wife’s grandfather’s cup of tea, now the only family heirloom.

Heather says she hasn’t decided to buy anything yet, while Shane dropped by Monday to pick up his new desk and chair to work with. Meliah, who lost her huge wardrobe, bought her first blouse this weekend.

“One day she’ll have enough clothes to mess up her room again,” smiled Heather as she cuddled her daughter.

“The most important thing is that no one was hurt and we are fine. Eventually we will be able to rebuild our lives,” he exclaims hopefully.