Residents return to fire-damaged western Canadian oil city

Residents wore government-issued wristbands as they returned to their hometown to take stock of their situation.

With providers of reinsurance and retrocession expected to take the lion’s share of the losses from the Fort McMurray, Canada wildfires, some estimating as much as 70% or $2 billion to $5 billion of the loss would be passed to reinsurance capital providers, the initial estimate from PCS would suggest that somewhere around $2.5 billion being passed to reinsurers and any exposed ILS capital providers.

“It’s unbelievable. The ice is still in my fridge, it doesn’t even smell like smoke”, said Dawson Kohl, 47, who rents the top floor of a house downtown. Now the people and pets are returning to town.

“I am one of the lucky ones, my house is still standing”, Ault said.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley was in Fort McMurray to welcome back the first returning evacuees.

“It’s sad because it was just bringing back memories of when we were leaving and everything was up in flames”, said Candace Carey, a returning resident. “A month later and I still can’t come to terms with it”.

We have to get some emergency insurance quickly to get the business up and running again, as we still have to pay the rent. Residents mowed lawns that had overgrown after a month without care.

The fire destroyed 2,400 structures, almost 10 per cent of the city, when it ripped through and forced more than 80,000 residents to flee. “There is still a lot of work to recover and rebuild (the city)”.

One home that burned to the ground in Crescent Heights was fenced off.

Five-year-old Isaac Leamon woke up sobbing from a nightmare half way through his family’s month-long evacuation from fire-ravaged Fort McMurray.

The blaze, which destroyed about 10 percent of the city’s homes, was a blow to a community already reeling from a two-year oil price slump.

But Fort McMurray returnees were urged to wear rubber boots, masks and clothing that covers arms and legs when cleaning up to avoid coming into contact with contaminated ashes. Officials worked to restore power and basic services prior to the planned June 1 return date. Roads leading to the most damaged neighborhoods including Beacon Hill and Abasand were blocked by police.

Residents of some neighbourhoods in the northeastern Alberta city are being allowed to return today at 8 a.m. MT.

“Today is not the end of this story, it’s not yet the return to normal life and it’s not yet a celebration”, Notley said in a briefing Wednesday.

Companies have reported no damage to oil sands infrastructure, but were forced to cut production by 1.2 billion barrels per day after evacuating workers as a precaution.

However, not everyone is able to return home in the near future. The house was nearly as it was when I left that morning I evacuated.

My house is also fully intact, luckily.

Notley was in Fort McMurray to welcome back the first of more than 80,000 people who had to flee when the fire hit May 3. “I like it here”.