'I thought we were going to die': Adam's Cove woman loses childhood home in wildfire

Within minutes of smelling smoke, Tina Dale saw flames scorching the trees outside her childhood home in Adam's Cove.

"When we got on the doorstep, it was just like this heat and black everywhere," Dale told CBC while revisiting her property a week after a fire that forced the evacuation of hundreds of people in Conception Bay North.

The fire, which started on May 7, destroyed 12 homes and 45 structures. Water bombers worked for hours to put out the fire and save homes.

Dale and her parents weren't so lucky to get through the fire without losing their home.

Dale, who is living with her parents to help take care of them, was cleaning and doing yard work on the day the fire broke out. By the late afternoon, Dale says she started to smell smoke.

She drove around to see what was going on and saw large flames in the distance, and says she then drove back home to get her parents out of the house as quickly as possible. 

While Dale was getting her parents ready to leave, she says she looked outside the window to see the yard on fire. 

"Dad left in his slippers… we took nothing," said Dale.

Just as she got her parents in the car, "everything turned black," said Dale. 

"It was just like this heat and black everywhere …  when I looked over there, those trees were on fire was big flames coming up behind the garage over here," said Dale while looking at the burnt debris left behind. 

WATCH | 'I haven't heard from anybody, nobody,' says resident whose home burned to the ground:

She thought she was going to die in the C.B.N. wildfire. Now, she has no home and wonders what’s next

14 hours ago

Duration 2:42

Tina Dale thought she and her parents were going to die when fire, smoke and heat burst onto their doorstep. Theirs was one of 12 homes destroyed during the fires that burned in Adam’s Cove. Now, Dale doesn’t know what comes next. The CBC’s Abby Cole reports.

When she got her car to the end of the driveway, Dale says there was so much smoke that she couldn't see. 

"We drove out a little ways, it was just like we were OK," said Dale. "But there for a minute ... I thought we were going to die."

Restoring losses

Dale says life has been a whirlwind in the last week and while she is processing what happened, she says she's also trying to gather the essential items they lost, like her parents' walkers.

Dale says the costs are adding up, as her parents didn't have their home insured either. When she called telecommunications provider Eastlink, they told her she might be charged for not returning the modem. 

She's hoping the government will help.

Dale says she called her area's MHA, Steve Crocker, and left her name and phone number, "because I'm like, am I supposed to tell somebody that we didn't have insurance and they lost everything they owned in their life?"

Dale says she hasn't heard from anyone since.

In a statement, government spokesperson Eric Humber says the government can't speak to individual cases.

"We recognize that this has been a challenging time for all those impacted by the devastation of the wildfire in the Adam's Cove area," he wrote in an email to CBC News.

"The provincial government remains in close contact with the community through various government departments as recovery efforts continue."

Humber says support is available for clean up and removal of hazards and the water resources division is also sampling the public water wells, and that private water wells will be tested for contamination. 

As of May 16, a non-consumption order remains in place and he says the town has drinking water available for residents. 

"The Emergency Services Division continues to support the town and monitor the recovery process," wrote Humber.

Humber's statement did not mention any financial support for those who lost their homes in the fire, but Crocker previously told CBC that some residents may be eligible for the federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program, and that the province is in talks about providing help at a provincial level.

Dale says people have been coming with items and new clothes to help her family, and that the generosity has been overwhelming.

"Bogarts even replaced my watch," she said. "People have been so kind. So there's a lot of goodness."

Dale's daughter, Emily Dale, also started a GoFundMe campaign which has raised over $6,000.

Dale is grateful for the help, but says it won't replace everything.

"Dad is just devastated, right. And he wants to come back here," said Dale. "They only get old age pension. So I mean, he doesn't have any money to put up a new place."

She hopes that more help will come. 

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