A Fort McMurray family of four recently returned back to their roots in Moncton, and arrived with quite a story to tell.

Jennifer and Eric Dunham, along with their two kids, were living in Fort McMurray when the wildfires broke out. They are currently staying in a hotel in downtown Moncton.  

Jennifer Dunham was teaching her class last Tuesday when a hold and secure announcement was made. Students were quickly picked up by parents fleeing the city.

“You try to keep it together for your students who are panicking, but once I left the school, I was really scared,” she said.

Eric Dunham was also at work. He says one minute the sky was blue, the next it was full of white smoke. He was then ordered to evacuate.

He managed to make it to the family home, but only had 15 minutes to grab a few things before leaving.

“I grabbed a couple bags and grabbed some clothes for everybody,” said Eric Dunham.

The family fled north and stayed in work camps for a couple days before leaving for Edmonton. After hearing it could be weeks before they were allowed to go back to Fort McMurray, they decided to come home to the Maritimes.

“At that point we said, ‘You know what? It's just better to get back to our roots, get back to home where we can spend some time with family and friends,’” said Eric Dunham

The Dunham’s recently received money from the Red Cross, but they’re still waiting to hear if, or when, they will be getting financial support from the Alberta government.

“Everybody's had to go in physically so far, so we're told that's going to be information they're providing to us hopefully within the next week,” said Eric Dunham.

The Dunham's also just learned their house is safe. They're not sure, however, about the amount of smoke damage.

Jennifer Dunham says the experience has been difficult for her children, especially her six-year-old son.

“My son knows more,” she said. “He cries a lot about his toys and he calls us evacuees.”

Eric Dunham hopes to back return to Alberta in the fall.

“We're definitely going back to Fort McMurray,” he said. “For the last eight years, Fort McMurray's been home for us. It's provided us our careers, both of our children were born there, we have lots of really close, dear friends now there.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis.