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Fort McMurray — On the afternoon of May 3, Glenn Dobson looked out on his porch and saw chaos.

His neighbours scrambled to cram items into their trucks and cars, only to spend hours on the highway.

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His wife had already left to join his son in Oklahoma.

A police officer was telling everyone to leave as acrid, black smoke blocked the sky. Dobson’s thoughts?

“They can take their evacuation order and stick it up their backside,” he said to himself. “Fort McMurray has been my home for 41 years. I’m not going anywhere. I have to protect it.”

While thousands of Fort McMurray’s residents scattered across the country, fleeing a fire that destroyed as many as 2,400 structures, Dobson stayed in his Glenoble Crescent mobile home in Gregoire.

Family and friends called him crazy and stubborn, pleading with him to leave the city. His wife was furious.

But he had everything he needed: a freezer packed with moose meat, dozens of eggs, some milk, a few gallons of water, two cases of beer and gasoline for his generator.