His dream home in ashes, Fort McMurray businessman says: 'I want to stay here'

It was their first home, their dream home, a two-storey with a big backyard for the kids, on a quiet street in Fort McMurray's north end.

Sunny Katoch bought it for his wife, Pooja, and surprised her with a walk-through just before Christmas.

Five months after they moved in, there's little left but cinders and ash, a twisted pile of rubble.

"After nine years, I thought now was a good time to buy a house," said Katoch. "We thought it was time for the children to be in their own home.

"It was our very first house, and we didn't even have it for five months. There is nothing left." 

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Their home was one of thousands destroyed when a wildfire breached city limits on May 3, and forced the city residents to flee for their lives.

But even as the flames moved in on his home, Katoch was on the other side of town, trying to keep a handle on the chaos at his downtown Mac's convenience store.

Minutes after the evacuation order, the streets filled with cars. Panicked drivers began lining up for gas before they joined the crush of traffic streaming down Highway 63.

As everyone fled, Katoch stayed behind.

"I was just making sure everybody got whatever they wanted, it didn't matter whether they paid or not," he said. "It was just helping them to get water, and supplies, and get them out of the store fast, so I could close the store safely and get out."

A few of his employees were stranded, so Katoch loaded them into his vehicle and started the drive north toward home.

"By the time I got my pump station closed safely and got all my employees out safely, it was around 4:30, 5 o'clock," he said. "So I was probably the last person moving up town to go to my family." 

The city was on lockdown by then, and drivers were being forced to flee south. 

'They wanted me to go south'

Katoch had to plead with a police officer to get past the roadblocks. 

"And by the time I got on my way, they told me there was no access to the north, because of the fire. They wanted me to go south, but my family was still in there."

The family got out safely. Not long after, Katoch got word that his house on Prospect Drive and the family Lexus — another gift to his wife — had burned in the fire.

He returned to Fort McMurray a few days before the evacuation orders were lifted to get his business up and running.

He's been working 20-hour shifts from dawn to dusk, ever since. The long hours have been a welcome distraction.

"I don't want to go back there," Katoch said of his home. "It's still too fresh." 

"I just want to be busy enough in my store helping people, rather than thinking about it," he said as he swept cigarette butts and garbage away from his storefront Thursday morning. "Let's move on. Life is too short." 

His family back in Edmonton, especially his daughters — three and six years old — are sick with worry. 

"They are upset because they don't have the trampoline in the backyard anymore. So I told them that Dad is going back to build them a new trampoline. I don't tell them that I'm working."

Though the grief is still raw, Katoch is certain his family will rebuild.

"I've been part of the neighbourhood for the last nine years, and I want to stay here," he said. "Life goes on, we've had lots of good days.

"We don't want to remember to the bad days."