Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley look over the devastation during a visit to Fort McMurray, Canada, on May 13, 2016.
Advertisement
Hours after Canadian authorities ordered the evacuation of workers at 19 oil fields north of the city of Fort McMurray, the flames destroyed Tuesday a camp used as a shelter for the employees. The Alberta government said on Wednesday it plans to start phased re-entry to Fort McMurray on June 1, as long as safety conditions are met. The causes of the blasts are not yet known, and there are no active fires burning within the city boundaries.
Blacksands Lodge, an accommodation centre for oilsands workers, has been destroyed with 665 units lost.
Late Monday, Suncor issued a news release confirming it had “started a staged and orderly shutdown of our base plant operations” and that personnel were being transported to work camps further north. “We are praying for rain”.
The most recent assessment shows the fire burning an area of almost 423,000 hectares, Alberta wildfire information officer Travis Fairweather said Wednesday morning.
No communities were in the fire’s immediate path.
Meanwhile, the fire is still encroaching on a number of other work camps and major oilsands sites, including those owned by Suncor and Syncrude. Canadian Natural Resources said the fires are at safe distance from its facilities and there is no damage to infrastructure.
Will Gibson of Syncrude Canada said more than 200 of his company’s workers were moved twice on Monday, from a work camp to its Mildred Lake mine north of Fort McMurray, then by bus to Edmonton when the evacuation order was extended to Mildred Lake.
Evacuees who fled a wildfire in northern Alberta two weeks ago may be allowed to return home as soon as June 1, officials said on Wednesday, as the massive blaze kept oil production shuttered north of Fort McMurray. Officials said facilities have been cleared of vegetation and have lots of gravel on site, reducing their fire risk.
The wildfire took out a third of Canada’s oil production, as producers in the world’s third biggest crude oil reserves region were forced to suspend output of roughly 1 million barrels per day.
TransAlta Corp’s Poplar Creek cogeneration power plant, which provides power to Suncor, was also shut by early Tuesday due to the wildfire, according to the provincial electric system operator.
“There has been no damage to Suncor’s assets”, Suncor said in a statement.
Advertisement
A new report into the financial impact of the McMurray fires says some $760m (C$985m; £528m) in oil sands production has been lost.
