'My neighbours in the back are gone': An emotional return to Fort Mac from Fort Chip

After weeks of anxiously waiting, Lori Cyprien finally touched down in Fort McMurray to pouring rain a sharp contrast to the inferno she fled with her boyfriend and eight-month-old son five weeks ago.

"I was like, 'Wow!' Fort McMurray is very green, like all coming back to life already."

Cyprien, a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, is originally from Fort Chipewyan, Alta,. a remote fly-in community of mostly Dene, Cree and Metis people.

She's called Fort McMurray home most of her adult life. In the wake of the fires the First Nations flew more than 100 of their members to Fort Chipewyan.

"It was comforting to have everyone around," she said. "Everyone in the same boat."

On Thursday, many returned together for the day to see the damage first hand.

"Don't get me wrong the trees are still burnt," Cyprien said.

But to her surprise: "you can see the re-growth."

The edge of the inferno

Cyprien's house was on the edge of the inferno, in the Wood Buffalo neighbourhood, one of the city's hardest hit. The condos behind her home were incinerated, leaving a vast open space.

"The front of my house looked like it hadn't been touched. You look behind it and it looks like a bomb went off," Cyprien said.

"My neighbours in the back are gone.We were lucky."

Photos from Facebook and friends had alreadyassured Cyprien her home was still standing, but the damage inside was still unknown.

With so little time on the ground Cyprien put her emotions aside and got down to business ofinspecting the damage.

"It looked just like I had left. Just dusty and very, very smelly."

After determining there was no flooding or water damage she rushed to her eight-month-old son's room.

One bin of mementos

The family fled the fires with one Tupperware bin of mementos.

"I went to see if his blanket was there that his late grandmother made," she said. "[His framed] footprints are still on the wall.

"I was like, should I take them? Maybe I don't need to take them. They'll be OK now, right?"

Cyprien says she'll make another trip back,to finish up insurance claims, hire contractors and cleaners to get her home back to normal.

But already, she saw many signs the community is rebuilding.

"You can feel the pride from anyone you talk to from there. All the small business are starting to come back...and the grass.

"Everywhere you look it's lush green. You can look through the burnt area and you can see the regrowth. That's very promising."