Repair crews on Tuesday assessed wildfire damage to Fort McMurray after an initial inspection by officials showed the Canadian energy boomtown was spared the worst as nearby oil sands companies looked to resume production.
But the blaze that began on May 1 continued to burn through the province of Alberta, engulfing
229,000 hectares (560,000 acres) of land after it spread east to connect with another fire burning near Campbell Lake, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Fort McMurray, whose 88,000 residents were evacuated.
Fort McMurray is the center of Canada’s oil sands region.
About half of its crude output, or 1 million barrels per day, has been taken offline, according to a Reuters estimate.
The fire’s growth was not likely to trigger further evacuations, Travis Fairweather, an Alberta wildlife information officer said on Tuesday. (Reuters)
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