Fort McMurray, or Fort Make Money, as some Canadians nicknamed it during its recent boom years, was the kind of place where second chances and fat paychecks beckoned.

Those who settled there were trained engineers, refugees from war-torn countries and strivers from across Canada and beyond, drawn to a dot on the map in northern Alberta, a city carved out of boreal forest in a region gushing with oil riches.

Even after the price of crude began to collapse in late 2014, erasing thousands of jobs, many residents managed to hang on, tightening their belts while waiting for the good times to return.

Then, early last week, smoke and ash filled the sky, the first harbingers of a catastrophic wildfire sweeping toward the city. The entire population of about 88,000 was forced to evacuate, most in a frantic rush.

Since then, the blaze has consumed whole swaths of Fort McMurray, ranking it as one of the most devastating fires in Canada’s history. The fast-moving flames turned many of the city’s homes and the baby photos and wedding albums and other treasures that could not be packed in time into little more than charcoal.

But even as displaced residents file insurance claims and pick through piles of donated clothing, many are adamant about rebuilding the city that gave them a financial lifeline as rare as the source of its prosperity, the largest oil sands reserve in the world.

Fort McMurray “is the only place you can go, sink 10 years of your life and bank enough money to retire,” said Kevin Lewis, 55, the owner of a transportation company. He fled to an evacuation center here in Lac La Biche, 137 miles south, in his pickup with only his wallet and the clothes on his back.

For the moment, lower temperatures have allowed firefighters to gain some control over the blaze, which has turned away from the city. But it is still raging in a nearby forest, and the danger of its returning to the city remains...................


More; http://newsherald.com.ng/2016/05/09/fort-mcmurray-a-canadian-oil-boom-town-is-left-in-ashes/



Evacuees from the wildfire taking refuge at the Bold Center in Lac La Biche, Alberta, 137 miles south of Fort McMurray, on Saturday.