Worried evacuees desperate for a glimpse of their streets and neighbourhoods got their first authorized peek inside the city ravaged by wildfire one week ago.
CTV News was among a select group of media outlets who boarded a bus for a tour of the city, led by regional fire chief Darby Allen. The tour began where the fire that Allen called “a beast” first breached town lines, in the neighbourhood of Beacon Hill.
When the bus turned the corner into the neighbourhood, CTV Edmonton reporter Breanna Karstens-Smith says silence fell over the passengers as the destruction they had heard about suddenly became real.
For the first few moments, she said, the only sounds breaking the stillness were the clicks of camera shutters and quiet mumbles of “Oh my God.”
Beacon Hill and most of Abasand were almost completely levelled by the flames, with home after home reduced to nothing but ash, concrete and rebar. Vehicles sitting in driveways are now just metal carcasses and melted tires. Blackened barbecues sit next to metal patio sets and children’s bicycles lie broken and twisted from the heat.
But just a short distance, there are perfectly intact homes with green lawns and trees alongside businesses and schools left untouched.
On the main road through downtown Fort McMurray, property appears as it was before the fire - except for the eerie lack of people in the streets. The local hospital, city hall and strip malls filled with fast food joints were all left untouched, thanks to the work of firefighters who put up a 12-hour battle to keep the flames back.
In all, 2,400 structures were destroyed, but another 25,000 buildings, along with hope for the future, remain.
With a report from CTV Edmonton’s Breanna Karstens-Smith
