Canadian wildfire city : Wildfire spared 90 percent of Fort McMurray

Fort McMurray is largely intact despite a week of damage from the wildfires devastating Canada's oil sands region, Alberta's premier said after touring the ghost town.

Firefighters warned, however, that the tens of thousands of evacuated residents would not be able to return for at least two weeks.

"It was a miracle we got the entire population out safely," Alberta Premier Rachel Notley told reporters.

"Equally miraculous... the fast action and the hard work and dedication and the smarts of the first responders has, it appears, saved 90 percent of the city of Fort McMurray."

Notley commented after getting a first look at damage caused by the inferno more than a week after it began, forcing some 100,000 people to flee. Many are workers lured from around the world by the local oil boom.

But with much work required to restore water, electricity, gas and other key infrastructure, fire chief Darby Allen said authorities would need two weeks before being able to provide a timeline for when the first residents would be allowed back home.

"If that fire had gotten into downtown, we would have lost the downtown area," he said.

Notley said she was "very much struck by the power of the devastation of the fire."

"The city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago... It was quite overwhelming in some spots," she said.

"I will also say that I was similarly struck by the proximity of the devastation to neighborhoods that were untouched."......http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/112759-160510-wildfire-spared-90-percent-of-fort-mcmurray-alberta-premier
10/5/16
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