The wildfire scorching through Canada’s oil sands region in northeast Alberta had been expected to double in size on Sunday, threatening the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, as it moved into its seventh day.
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FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta Alberta’s premier will get a first look at the devastated parts of Canada’s oil sands town of Fort McMurray on Monday after the fire stabilized to the point where officials are beginning the next phase of the government’s plan to get residents back home.
Notley also says she will be meeting with leaders in the energy industry Tuesday to determine when oilsands operations can get fully operational.
More than 100,000 Fort McMurray residents and people in surrounding areas were forced to evacuate last week. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it’s not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months. “We can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire… get a death grip on it”.
There was still no timeline, however, for getting Fort McMurray’s 88,000 inhabitants back into what remains of their town.
But she regretted the deaths of two people who died when their vehicle struck a truck while fleeing the blaze. “So, they have to be very careful to make sure no one is flying underneath them – or overhead”, Gushue said in an interview from Edmonton.
Only emergency responders and disaster-relief workers are being allowed into Fort McMurray. “We tried to find a work camp to put a roof over our head for the night”.
“As long as I’ve got my husband and three kids, that’s all that matters, ” she said. “The firefighters in Alberta will be paying attention to weather conditions”.
There has been some suggestion that the projected wildfire budget for this year may have played a role in the Fort McMurray fire.
On Sunday, Alberta’s Government estimated that the fire had consumed 161,000 hectares.
Fire officials say the conditions for containing the blaze have improved.
I have directed my officials to study the remaining recommendations and whether there is more we can be doing to better prepare for increasingly frequent and severe wildfires.
Still, in a glimmer of positive news, the authorities have recorded no fatalities directly linked to the blaze, and winds were pushing the fires away from Fort McMurray.
The entire population of the Canadian city of Fort McMurray was forced to flee because of a huge wildfire.
The gas has been turned off and the power grid is damaged, while the water is not drinkable.
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The fire which is still burning out of control in some places and the massive smoke screen it created has almost shuttered Alberta’s famed oil sands which account for almost one-third of Canada’s oil output.
