A Cape Breton man who was fleeing the wildfires in Fort McMurray arrived home to find his house had burned to the ground.
Bruce MacDonald was in Toronto when the fire began in his home Friday morning. His 20-year-old son was home at the time and was awoken by smoke.
“Literally just leaving there to get away from that to come home, and then only to find out that his home was gone when he got home," said Norm MacDonald, Bruce’s brother.
The family has already been through tough times. MacDonald and his wife have recently lost a parent.
Norm MacDonald and his wife, Cindy, immediately started a GoFundMe page, which has brought in over $16,000 in three days.
"Every few minutes, there was more and more money,” said Cindy MacDonald. “And that's not including what was coming in through email transfers. Just couldn't believe the outpouring of support."
"They'd give the shirts off their backs to help people in general, so it's nice to see that in return," said Norm MacDonald.
It’s a remarkable donation total, given people are already donating to Fort McMurray.
"They're really blown away. They really weren't expecting it," said Cindy MacDonald.
The MacDonald’s say the main thing is that no lives were lost.
“If that would've happened through the night, he would have lost his whole family," said Norm MacDonald.
The family is making arrangements to stay with nearby residents.
"Literally the only thing they had left was the clothes they had on their backs. There's nothing left – literally nothing left," said Norm MacDonald.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald
