A former Steinbach resident is busy fighting the massive wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Doug Neufeld works for an oil sands company in the area and says all of the oil companies have sent firefighters to help the community. We spoke with him by telephone at 7:00 a.m. Wednesday. He says the past 48 hours have been chaotic.

Doug Neufeld"We've been fighting fire all night down in Fort McMurray. We've got a lot of houses that burned down as well as a lot of parks, a lot of trees. The town is covered in smoke. It's been evacuated and there is a mess of cars everywhere. It's chaotic. You go and help your fellow neighbour. It's all you can do."

Neufeld did not lose his home in the fires but says some of the firefighters he works with have lost theirs. He notes Fort McMurray is a really great community and will get through this.

"They really pull together and really help each other a lot around here."

The fires have destroyed 80 per cent of the homes in one neighbourhood and caused extensive damage to a number of other neighbourhoods. So far there have been no reports of injuries.

One of many evacuation centres in Fort McMurray