Up to 2,000 evacuees face 4-month wait
• Concerns about environmental contamination will delay the return of up to 2,000 Fort McMurray evacuees, who had been expecting to move back starting this week, until as late as September, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced Monday.
Re-entering the firescarred city is to proceed for most residents as previously announced. But Notley said that more than 500 homes and about a dozen apartment complexes that escaped the wildfire earlier this month in three otherwise heavily damaged neighbourhoods are not yet safe to be lived in.
She said that conclusion was reached by health experts after tests found ash tainted by toxic heavy metals and such carcinogens as dioxins and furans.
“It was determined that the volume of what we’ve just described was sufficient that those intact homes were not safe until that kind of waste was removed,” Notley said. “It means that people who live in those neighbourhoods should not plan to return permanently on June 4 as originally planned.”
The U.S. Geological Survey found ash left after California’ s home-destroying wildfires in 2007 and 2008 was far more alkaline than ash from wood fires. Mixed with water, the ash was almost as caustic as oven cleaner. It was also significantly contaminated with metals, some of them toxic. Arsenic, lead, antimony, copper, zinc and chromium were all found at levels exceeding EPA guidelines.
As well, ash particles from urban-wildfire blazes tended to be smaller and more easily inhaled. Both arsenic and hexavalent chromium — a form of the metal known to cause lung cancer — were more readily taken up by lung fluids than they were in water.
Arrangements will be made for people from the affected homes to make a onetime visit, Notley said.
“We believe it will be possible to arrange for these residents to temporarily return to inspect their residences and retrieve their belongings,” she said.
Crews will attempt to stabilize the ash and remaining debris by spraying it with a non- toxic substance that Notley compared to papier-mâche. Called a tackifier, the product is made from wood pulp and recycled paper.
Meanwhile, services are slowly being restored. Gas stations and grocery stores are being restocked.
“They’re working very quickly with those key retail providers,” Notley said. “We are certainly encouraging people to bring up as much of their own stuff as they can.”
The Red Cross also announced Monday that it is releasing another $ 20 million from donations to all those able to move back.
The fire is still burning and covers about 5,800 square kilometres. About 300 South African firefighters have arrived to help, which brings the number battling the blaze to 2,000.