FORT MCMURRAY: Tens of thousands of Fort McMurray residents were expected to begin trickling back into the Canadian oil city ravaged by wildfires Wednesday after the blaze was declared no longer a threat.
“Getting life back to a degree of normalcy in the immediate (future) is the key, and obviously for those people who have lost their homes tragically it is to make sure they have the supports they need,” Scott Long, head of the Alberta Emergency Management agency, told reporters on the eve of the migration.
The fire, which forced the evacuation one month earlier of nearly 100,000 people from the city and surrounding villages, remains out of control.
But it has moved away from populated areas as it heads eastward, while growing only minimally in the last few days to more than 580,000 hectares (1.4 million acres).
Smoke has largely dissipated in the city itself, raising local air quality to safe levels.
“At this time the fire does not pose any immediate threat to Fort McMurray or surrounding communities,” said Alberta wildfire manager Chad Morrison.
The residents were scheduled to begin returning at 8 a.m. Wednesday (1400 GMT), with police monitoring traffic flows and ambulances on standby.
Rest stops have been set up along the mostly barren 500-kilometer (310-mile) route from Edmonton to Fort McMurray.
The Red Cross has offered to bus in up to 2,000 people per day.
