A break in the weather has officials optimistic they have reached a turning point on…
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Jonathan Hayward/AP A burned out vehicle and houses are viewed in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Fort McMurray, Alberta.
(Mark Blinch/The Canadian Press via AP). Evacuees from the Fort McMurray wildfires sit outside at an evacuation center in Lac la Biche, Alberta, Saturday, May 7, 2016.
Authorities have revealed most of Fort McMurray remains intact despite a week of damage caused by wildfires devastating Canada’s oil sands region.
Officials completed the transport of 25,000 residents out of work camps north of the city after police oversaw a procession of thousands of vehicles Friday and Saturday, and a mass airlift of thousands of evacuees was also employed from the oil mine airfields.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has restarted production at a reduced rate at its oil sands mining operation, and will fly staff in and out. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
“Don’t drive the four hours only to be told by the RCMP at the check points outside of Fort McMurray that you have to turn around and go all the way back”, said Notley.
“It’s really in the nature of emergency service workers to want to help, and I suspect that we will have a very strong response to this request, certainly here in Winnipeg and I expect, really, right across the country”, he said.
“The government of Alberta will be working closely with Fort McMurray, First Nations, and with all the other community leaders here on plans to stabilize the area, to make it safe and to help citizens return and rebuild”, says Notley.
“(Fort McMurray’s fire chief Darby) Allen confirms that 85 per cent of structures are still intact in Fort McMurray”, reports Wisker.
More than 80,000 people were evacuated from the oil sands city last week. “It is a home you will return to”.
Trudeau said Canada will support and invest in rebuilding Fort McMurray in a broad range of ways in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.
Many evacuees, like Michael Trueman, think the two week timeline is way too long.
The gallery above shows the horrifying aftermath of the inferno that moved through Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, torching possessions and memories indiscriminately along its 400,000-acre path of destruction.
Williams said the sites are not normally affected by this type of fire but companies have to check.
“It’s part of the magic of the piece – I don’t belabour it and I’m able to do a lot of live painting for charity”, said Thomas, who’s also selling prints of late First Nations elder Chief Dan George and horses to benefit Fort McMurray charities.
Almost all of Fort McMurray’s residents escaped the fire safely, although two teenagers died in a vehicle crash during the evacuation.
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Alberta’s premiere, Rachel Notley, will lead local officials and media on an inspection of Fort McMurray, whose 88,000 inhabitants fled the blaze that broke out on May 1.
