Alberta is expected to lift the province-wide state of emergency today that’s been in place since the Fort McMurray wildfire grew out of control and razed the city.
Now, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo’s wildfire recovery committee will be meeting in Fort McMurray to declare a local state of emergency.
RMWB councillor Phil Meagher says most area residents won’t notice changes as the states of emergency shift, but it will affect who is in charge.
“It will give us a lot more autonomy over some of the things we decide to do with cleanup and hazardous areas,” Meagher told CTV News Channel Thursday.
“And we still have to abide by the medical officer of health and what she advises us on what we can and can’t do in affected areas.”
The medical officer, for example, has declared most Fort McMurray neighbourhoods safe for re-entry, except for the communities of Waterways, Abasand and Beacon Hill, which were heavily damaged by the fire.
Dr. Karen Grimsrud has said that contaminants in the ash in those areas are at hazardous levels, making the neighbourhoods “unsafe for occupation until debris can be cleared.”
As well, boil water advisories remain in effect for those same areas as well as several others. That will remain the case until testing from RMWB and provincial authorities declare the water safe.
Still, Marr believes the town has “gone from darkness into the light.” He pointed to a fundraiser concert held in Edmonton Wednesday night that was livestreamed at Fort McMurray’s Shell Place at MacDonald Island Park.
The benefit concert raised more than $2 million for Fort McMurray which will be passed on to the local United Way in town.
More than 80,000 residents were forced from their homes on May 3, by wildfire that destroyed 2,400 homes and buildings. Meagher says residents now want to focus on the future.
“People just want to get back and start rebuilding their lives, rebuilding their homes, taking away the debris,” he said.
