Photo: Twitter - Justin Hubert

A thick cloud of acrid smoke hung over Fort McMurray on Wednesday morning as tens of thousands of people who have fled the wildfire that has ravaged parts of their city wondered about family, friends and their homes.

"It is what it is and we will wait to see what happens," Dawn Pike-Cumby said at a roadside turnoff as she fed her children slices of melon.

"You hope for the best but you can't do much. If it is gone it is gone."

A seemingly endless line of cars and trucks headed south toward Edmonton overnight and into the early morning hours seeking refuge from the flames.

Others drove north of Fort McMurray where oilsands companies opened their work camps to shelter evacuees.

Kyla Penner seemed calm but was still processing the hectic hours in which she had to call parents to pick up their children from the home daycare she operates in the city.

As the fire and smoke closed in she quickly packed some clothes and food, wondering where to go with her family.

First she drove north and then turned south, thinking about her mother-in-law who was in another neighbourhood and had to be saved by a helicopter.

"My family for the most part is good," she said smiling while holding her son in her arms.

"There is no word about our home. It won't be a shock if it is not there."

April Bolger said she spent more than an hour frantically calling 911 from her home to seek help for Lilly, her 20-month-old daughter, who suffers a heart condition.

Bolger said the dispatcher told her she would better off driving out of the city herself.

"I couldn't even take her outside without her losing her breath," she said while waiting for a break in the traffic.

"I had to put a drenched towel over her face to bring her to my vehicle."

Bolger was heading to Edmonton, hoping to get Lilly into the Stollery Children's hospital.

Gerry Murphy said the traffic was so clogged as people fled that it took him more than two hours just to drive out of his neighbourhood.

His wife Golda said the evacuation order came as they were planning to celebrate their grand-daughter's 16th birthday.

"It wasn't looking good when we drove out of the driveway," he said. "It is devastating, just totally devastating."

Shawn Brett was sitting at home when some friends phoned, warning him to get out of the city quickly.

Brett said when he opened his front door he could see smoke and flames as police urged people in his neighbourhood to evacuate.

Jumping on his Harley Davidson, Brett said he had no time to grab belongings and was almost too late.

"I literally drove out of the flames. I had ashes hitting me in the face," he said.

"Everything was jammed. You had people all over the place. The gas station was on fire. It was the biggest chaos I have ever seen."

The havoc wrought by the wildfires didn't stop people from thinking about how others were being affected by the calamity.

As she watched the smoke billowing over the city Pike-Cumby quietly sobbed as she paid homage to the first responders who were trying to keep people safe.

"The RCMP, the firefighters - from the bottom of our hearts, thank-you," she said. "Without your calm presence we wouldn't be here today."