Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police monitor the Fort McMurray Wildfire.
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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson visited with families who were forced to leave their homes on short notice.
The Fort McMurray fire continues to threaten homes and businesses in Alberta, Canada. A massive evacuation of 25,000 residents displaced by the blaze also came to an end.
“We did our very best”, he said. “For us this is great firefighting weather”.
“It’s slowing down a lot because we’ve had a bit of change in weather but also, our firefighters have had a chance to anchor themselves and dig in”, Mr. Morrison said. Burned out buildings are viewed in Fort McMurray, Alberta, during a media tour of the fire-damaged city Monday, May 9, 2016.
Officials have expressed some optimism that they are beginning to get on top of the wildfire, as cooler weather and light rain stopped the blaze from growing as much as feared and the winds took the flames away from Fort McMurray.
“So we really will get that to you as soon as we possibly can”, Allen said with a thumbs up.
Syncrude said its oil sands project about 35 km (22 miles) north of Fort McMurray had shut down completely on Saturday morning, the first time in its 38-year history, because of smoke from the wildfire.
Notley said that almost 90,000 evacuees have registered with the province online and more than 30,000 have settled in the Edmonton area, with 5,000 in Calgary and 2,000 in Lac La Biche.
“First responders and fix crews have weeks of work ahead of them to make this city safe for the people of Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities”.
The loss of oil-sands output, a key engine of the Canadian economy is expected to dampen the country’s economic growth in the second quarter, and worsen a downturn from low oil prices that already has led to large job cuts and lost production.
No deaths or injuries have been reported from the fire itself.
With huge swathes of forest and brush, as well as whole neighbourhoods of the city, turned to ash – an area three-quarters the size of Luxembourg – firefighters battling the blaze are concentrating on saving vital infrastructure, including telecommunications, electric grids, gas and water lines.
Canadian officials say a massive wildfire near the city of Fort McMurray, Alberta could double in size over the weekend.
“We know from all the calls that you’re getting frustrated because you don’t have any information on your homes”.
Five hundred firefighters employing 15 helicopters and 14 air tankers have been struggling to contain the massive blaze, which has already forced at least 90,000 residents to evacuate, majority from Fort McMurray, which is under a mandatory evacuation order, along with Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation. “We’re really working hard on that, it’s a complicated process”, he said.
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“Today is Mother’s Day”.
