“Fire behavior has certainly calmed down”, Laura Stewart, an Alberta wildfire information officer, said by phone on Monday.
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In a Tuesday morning update, provincial emergency officials said the Fort McMurray wildfire had grown to 523,000 hectares, nearly the size of Prince Edward Island, and was still out of control but moving farther east and northeast away from the city and industrial operations.
Athabasca Oil (TSX:ATH) has resumed operations at its northern Alberta oilsands project as colder weather and a forecast of rain allows the industry to start sending staff back to work following the devastating Fort McMurray, Alta., wildfires.
“There always is that potential that flames could cross the firebreaks around the Suncor and Syncrude facilities, that firefighters patrol”, Morrison said. “Cooler, calmer conditions are definitely helping firefighters make good progress”.
Suncor Energy Inc said on Monday it was preparing for a staged restart of its operations, with some workers in the area doing necessary “pre-work”. There has been no damage to Suncor’s assets, it said. The company had evacuated all but critical staff from its Mildred Lake and Aurora mines.
The fire has shut down about half of the oil sands’ production capacity, though some producers are beginning to come back online.
Spokesman Rob Evans of ConocoPhillips said workers began arriving at its Surmont thermal project site on Tuesday and the company expects to have 350 workers there by Friday.
Officials say about 1,000 additional fire crews from across Canada, the United States and South Africa will be joining the fight this week against a massive wildfire near Fort McMurray.
The blaze covered an estimated 5,229 square kilometers (2,019 square miles) on Monday, more than four times the size of New York City.
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Here’s a look at the Fort McMurray re-entry plan, tentatively scheduled to begin Wednesday, June 1.
