Security cams keep Fort McMurray woman updated on status of home, cat

For Cat Jones, the connection to her home in Fort McMurray are the images coming through her cell phone from security cameras about 4,000 kilometres away.

“I have a security camera in my house so I keep logging in to see if my house is still OK, if I can see my cat, and for the time being I’ve seen that my house is OK.”

Jones’s house in the Wood Buffalo region near Fort McMurray has so far been spared from the wildfires raging in the area that have displaced an estimated 80,000 people.

“There are houses that are burned on my street, but I don’t know which ones,” says Jones, a sales manager in Fort McMurray and a mother of two. “It’s really hard just to think about it.”

Related stories:

Federal government to match Red Cross donations for Fort McMurray fire

Alberta fire evacuees forced to move again as weather shifts

‘Albertans are helping Albertans:’ people rush to aid fire evacuees

Jones arrived in Toronto for a planned trip just three days prior to the first stories appearing about evacuations. She says she has been relying on social media for updates from friends and family from the area.

“The stories that I’ve heard, they’re traumatizing,” she says. “I feel a combination of gratitude and guilt because I know all my friends and family, and my co-workers – some people have lost everything,”

As stories about flames igniting homes and businesses within the city limits, Jones spent the first night watching the security cameras on her phone.

“The first night I didn’t sleep one minute,” she says. “I was constantly checking back, checking back, and I was just terrified. At one point it wouldn’t log on, and I was like, ‘OK, it’s done. I’ve lost everything.'”

But eventually the camera did make a connection, and Jones could see everything was all right.

“I’ve been checking my security camera hourly now, mostly for my cat, Gemma, just because I know she’s stuck inside and it just breaks my heart that no one could get to her in time.”

Jones says when the evacuations began, she got a number of texts from friends offering to rescue Gemma, but she told them to save themselves first.

And she says that despite the horrific images of destruction coming out now, the town of Fort McMurray will rise again.

“If any community can get through this … can overcome this devastation .. it’s Fort McMurray. You just wait.”

Rogers is giving free long distance/texting to Fort McMurray until May 17 and we are partnering with the Red Cross. If you would like to donate $10, text the word FIRES to 45678 or 30333 for a $5 donation.