Cooler temperatures and light rain have officials optimistic they’ve reached a turning point on getting a handle on a massive wildfire that has devastated parts of Canada’s oil sands town of Fort McMurray.
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Alberta government issued a statement releasing the how much these fires have consumed – around 200000 hectare or 500000 acres of land is now a dead place due to the wildfires.
Oil sands mines are resilient to fires because they are cleared and have no vegetation, said Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire. Only a days-long rain, which is not forecast, would completely put out the fire, officials said Sunday.
Canadian firefighters are looking to cooler weather to help with their battle against the country’s most destructive wildfire in recent memory, as officials sought to gauge the damage to oil sands boomtown Fort McMurray.
“This beast is an extraordinarily hard problem”, federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told reporters Sunday, in a reference to how the fire has been nicknamed. But it also moved far enough away from the evacuated town to allow an official delegation to visit on Monday. Although the wildfire was enormous, no deaths or injuries have been reported – though two people died from traffic accidents during the mass evacuation.
“There will be some dramatic images coming from media over the next couple of days”, she said.
“I’m exceptionally proud of the effort by the EIA community”, EIA public affairs director Heather Hamilton said Tuesday.
After touring Fort McMurray on Monday, Notley said about 2,400 homes and buildings were destroyed in the city, but firefighters managed to save 25,000 others, including the hospital, municipal buildings and every functioning school.
A couple of Calgary firefighter captains told the story of their time in Fort McMurray on the weekend and the challenges the wildfire presented.
“I truly believe nothing else could have been done that wasn’t done to protect the people and the structures within our city”, said Allen.
She said she and her partner, who are now staying with an Irish family in Edmonton, have been able to check their home remotely through its security system and it is “still standing”, but she does not know “what state its in”.
Alberta’s oil sands have the third-largest reserves in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Officials said on Sunday that crews will begin examining the damage from blaze and check on the infrastructure like natural gas lines and the power grid.
Syncrude and Suncor facilities north of Fort McMurray were evacuated but the fire did not reach them.
One of the victims, 15-year-old Emily Ryan, was the daughter of a fireman in the city.
Roberts said there was no timeline on when the fire might cross into Saskatchewan.
“I’m terrified of what the drive is going to be going back into Fort McMurry”, Christine Cook said. “We really will get that to you as soon as we possibly can”.
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The average temperature forecast for Sunday was 18 Celsius (64 Fahrenheit), with winds gusting up to 50 kilometers an hour (31 miles an hour) and the potential for showers in the Fort McMurray area, the Alberta government said.
