Fort McMurray re-entry: What do returning residents need to bring?

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — A steady stream of traffic moved into the fire-damaged Canadian oil sands city of Fort McMurray on Wednesday as thousands of people who fled a wildfire at the start of May return to see what’s left. “Just able to clean out our fridge, get rid of the spoiled food, throw that out, give the fridge a wipe down, and we were good to go”.

Downtown Fort McMurray, untouched by fire, was quiet but not empty early on Wednesday morning.

“Getting life back to a degree of normalcy in the immediate (future) is the key, and obviously for those people who have lost their homes tragically it is to make sure they have the supports they need”, Scott Long, head of the Alberta Emergency Management agency, told reporters on the eve of the migration. “The door is open”.

“ATCO Gas will be concentrating on turning the gas back on in the lower town site”, he said. “People have to be cognizant of that”. It shuttered more than a million barrels per day of crude production, though some facilities have resumed operations even as acrid smoke lingered in the air.

Government officials expect the return for most evacuees to be completed by June 15.

Premier Notley, along with Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Mayor Melissa Blake and Bob Courture will speak to the media at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s going to be an emotional event when we have those first cars pulling back into the community, because we can all remember when this community left on the evacuation, it was pretty dramatic, but now it’s going to be, hopefully, a joyous event”, Couture said Tuesday.

Experts are warning that as people begin to return to Fort McMurray, it’s important to keep victims of domestic abuse and shelter users front of mind.

Jim Mandeville, senior project manager with FirstOnSite Restoration, has been in Fort McMurray since May 8 to help critical businesses such as banks, grocery stores and pharmacies get running again.

“That’s why people coming back in should expect to bring 14 days of supplies, so that you have your resources, so it is not depleting what we have”.

Anuradha Dugal, director of violence prevention at the Canadian women’s foundation said when a natural disaster occurs, those who rely on shelters need to be found a safe space to live in the wake of a disaster.