A former Windsorite living in Jasper, Alberta for the last seven years had to flee Monday as a wildfire ravaged the mountain town.
Natalie Ray moved to Jasper in 2017 with her stepbrother Keaton and her boyfriend, Connor, who is originally from Australia.
Ray moved there on a four month work contract and fell in love with the town and stayed.
Speaking on AM800's The Shift, Ray says the day started off normal and she even went to the beach, but thing's started to escalate quickly.
She says once she received the emergency alert on her cellphone, she had about 20 minutes to pack what they could from their accommodations at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.
"You try to be as ready as you can for something like this, but in the moment with all the adrenaline and everything that's going on, you truly can never be ready for something like that."
The three fled to British Columbia for a few days and then drove back to Calgary in order to catch a flight to Windsor, where they landed Friday morning.
However, it was when they were in Calgary, Ray says they were told by phone that they had lost everything.
"It's been quite devastating, especially since we fled, we've kind of been in the dark. We're just constantly searching for any updates we can get. Scavenging online for any pictures that we could find to figure out what was going on, and of course when you see those pictures it's -- it's horrifying."
She says it's possible she may move back to Jasper in the future.
"The lodge is still in a decent shape. It was just, in this instance, my apartment specifically. So there is an opportunity for us once this calms down to go back and attempt to rebuild."
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says updated numbers show one-third of all structures in the Jasper townsite were burned or destroyed in this week's wildfire.
The structures were homes and businesses. Parks Canada says out of more than 1,100 structures in the town, 358 were hit by the fires.
Critical infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and water treatment services, remain intact.
-With files from The Canadian Press