From 'hilltop to hilltop to hilltop': residents grapple with impact of fast-moving forest fire

Geoffrey Howson was emotional when he returned to his Bocabec home in southwestern New Brunswick on Tuesday afternoon and realized how close he had come to losing it. 

The heavily wooded areas on either side of his long driveway were burned black. Scorch marks almost encircle his house, including in a front flower bed and directly beneath his back deck, which overlooks Passamaquoddy Bay. 

Fire burned through a wooded area to within 10 metres of his home on one side.

Howson credits firefighters with saving his house. If not for them fighting off the flames, he's certain he would have lost it.

That scene was being replayed all over the Bocabec and Chamcook areas affected by the fire after officials lifted an evacuation. 

He said he's "incredibly grateful" to the firefighters, who worked around the clock to protect homes from the fast-moving fire that began about three kilometres away in the woods across Highway 127 from Howson's house. 

Firefighters told Howson they even fought the fire with the garden hose he had lying beside his house. 

He heard about the fire from a neighbour on Sunday afternoon and within hours, he and his wife were ordered to evacuate. 

While the fire is still considered out of control, officials did allow residents to return.

Howson said he had been running on adrenaline until he got home and started feeling the impact of what they had been through. 

He felt vulnerable and "just very, very lucky." 

Across Highway 127, Department of Natural Resources officials allowed journalists on Tuesday to get a look at the damage caused by the forest fire. 

A dirt road led to several properties in the woods.

Very little vegetation was left. Blackened tree trunks were all that was standing along both sides of the road.