More than 2400 buildings were destroyed in Fort McMurray, but 90 percent of the city remains intact, including essential infrastructure like the hospital, water treatment plant and the airport.
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On Friday, officials said the Suncor and Syncrude oil sands sites remained under mandatory evacuation orders along with 19 work camps north of Fort McMurray.
Alberta senior wildfire manager Chad Morrison said Friday that cooler temperatures, higher humidity and a forecast for rain have allowed the government to safely put more boots on the ground.
Major oilsands operation to the north of the city, including Suncor and Syncrude, were also placed on mandatory evacuation earlier this week when the fire pushed in that direction and destroyed a work camp.
A Canadian flag flies over damage caused by a wildfire, which prompted the mass evacuation of over 88,000 people, in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada on May 14, 2016.
“For two to three months, we haven’t received any significant rain on this fire”, said Morris.
No oil facilities or communities were in the fire’s path as of Tuesday morning, said wildfire information officer Laura Stewart.
Officials told a press conference that the fire is now in check and firefighters are confident they can hold it over the coming days, until it rains.
The Alberta wildfire now sits at 504,443 hectares which is seven times the size of Edmonton. All oil worker camps were evacuated due to the fire, but Enbridge now says that its terminal is returning to a state of full operation. The fire is largely moving north and east, away from the oil-sands operations, he said.
Suncor, Canada’s largest energy company, has started mobilizing workers for a staged restart of its operations in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, according to a statement from the company.
“Around 1,000 more firefighters should be no the ground in the next two weeks from across Canada, the USA, and South Africa”, explains Larivee.
The province had announced earlier this week that June 1 would be the tentative date for residents to begin to return to Fort McMurray.
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It is unclear when either will resume full production, though Suncor has said a limited number of staff will be back at some of its sites on Monday at the earliest and that all will return “in a phased manner over the next few weeks”.
