Also waiting nearby was Emma Mitchell and her husband.
Emma challenged an earlier statement by local authorities that some of those killed had not taken a designated evacuation route.
“We’ve lived here for three years full time and there has never been information that you should take this road if there is a fire, never.”
And Thomas-Wolf Verdonckt, the son of a Belgian man who died in the wildfire also disputed authorities’ claims that he and other victims ignored official advice to shelter in place.
He told Reuters that he spoke to his father, 63-year-old businessman Stanislas Verdonckt, by phone on Thursday evening as the fire advanced on Bédar.
The emergency services gave them “no official warning” or evacuation commands, he said.
“There was no warning, they were not aware of a fire, and by the time they were – because they saw the fire themselves – it was already too late,” he said.
His father and others attempted to take the main road – a designated evacuation route – but found it was not possible to access and took a different trail.
“It was out of their hands,” he said, “it’s not fair on them that they are [blamed] when it was not their choice to begin with.”