Fort McMurray Residents Face ‘Shock’ on Return After Wildfires
- Last month’s blaze destroyed 10% of the town’s buildings
- Returnees hopeful about recovery as they trickle back
Waseem Amin has been making big plans for his return to Fort McMurray, the Canadian oil-sands town devastated by wildfires last month. He came home to a city smelling of smoke and surrounded by charred hills dotted with hulks of burned trees.
Amin, 38, who spent the better part of a month living in a student housing compound after fires forced 80,000 people to evacuate the town in northern Alberta, is counting on rebuilding efforts to give his trucking business a boost following a nearly two-year-long recession caused by the oil industry downturn. He was one of the lucky ones -- his apartment largely escaped the fire, he said Wednesday as he made his way to survey the damage. Residents from areas that were razed by the fires are still not allowed back.