MONTREAL, Canada: Residents forced to flee fires threatening Canada’s oil production hub were able to return home on Saturday after evacuation orders were lifted.
“We are so pleased to welcome people home and have them come home safely,” Fort McMurray Mayor Sandy Bowman said, thanking the more than 6,000 residents who were ordered to leave for their “patience, resolve and strength.”
Much-needed rains have reduced the intensity of a wildfire in western Canada’s Alberta province and “significant progress” has been made to contain its northern edge, the city said in a statement.
However, more than 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres) continued to burn out of control, Alberta firefighters said in a Saturday morning update that noted more rain was forecast.
The evacuation order for Fort McMurray residents came Tuesday as a fast-moving wildfire neared the city.
In 2016, it was hit by a fire that forced the evacuation of 90,000 people, a major disaster that destroyed 2,500 buildings and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Canadian authorities were bracing for the possibility of another devastating wildfire season after the country’s worst fires from coast to coast burned more than 15 million hectares of land last year.
A federal government tracker showed 114 active fires as of Saturday afternoon, including 42 in Alberta and 40 in westernmost British Columbia.
A wildfire threatening the Canadian oil sands hub of Fort McMurray has prompted thousands of people to evacuate the remote northern Alberta city, reviving memories of a destructive blaze eight years ago https://t.co/fGcHX86RIK pic.twitter.com/6GtcQn0CZw
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2024
