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Alberta wildfire was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history

Fort McMurray residents look over the damage as wildfire evacuees trickle back to their homes. REUTERS/Topher Seguin

Alberta wildfire was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history

By on Jul 7, 2016Share

The wildfire that ripped through Alberta, Canada’s Fort McMurray area in June devastated homes, boreal forests, and tar sands oil production. Now that the dust has settled, another scary aspect of the fire has emerged: the cost.

All told, the Fort McMurray wildfire cost $3.6 billion in Canadian currency (that’s $2.8 billion USD), the Insurance Bureau of Canada announced on Thursday, making it the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history.

According to the bureau, the costs broke down as follows: 27,000 personal-property claims with an average claim of $81,000 each; 12,000 auto claims averaging $15,000; and more than 5,000 business claims which averaged over $250,000 (including the cost of work closures).

That’s more than double the expense of the previous most-costly-natural-disaster-in-Canadian-history, a 2013 flood in southern Alberta that cost $1.7 billion in insurance claims.

These billion-dollar disasters will be less “natural” in the future, with climate change fueling longer and more ferocious wildfire seasons.

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Alberta wildfire was the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history

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8,000 oil workers evacuated from Fort McMurray fire. Again.

8,000 oil workers evacuated from Fort McMurray fire. Again.

By on May 17, 2016Share

Two weeks after it began, the Fort McMurray wildfire is continuing to burn out of control. On Monday, winds shifted and sent the fire in the direction of oil sands facilities.

As many as 8,000 of the oil workers who’d been working to restart oil production were evacuated after the wildfire — which the media has nicknamed “the Beast” — jumped a critical firebreak late on Monday, moving at a rate of more than 100 feet per minute. The evacuations will prolong a shutdown of oil sands operations, which is costing about 1 million barrels of crude oil per day.

Initial reports of the Fort McMurray wildfire speculated that the blaze could continue for months. Now it’s looking like those speculations may come true. Meanwhile, a second, smaller blaze in the province prompted more mandatory evacuations, including a gas facility, northwest of the city of Edmonton.

And the fire season is just getting started.

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8,000 oil workers evacuated from Fort McMurray fire. Again.

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On a scale of 1 to 10, Fort McMurray’s air pollution is a 38

On a scale of 1 to 10, Fort McMurray’s air pollution is a 38

By on May 17, 2016 5:00 amShare

Nearly two weeks after a wildfire first tore through Fort McMurray, the Canadian oil town’s air pollution index is off-the-charts at 38 — on a scale of one to 10.

The air quality scale measures contaminants, smoke, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide, none of which is good to be breathing in. The fire has forced 90,000 people to leave their homes, and as of Monday, thousands more had to evacuate an area north of the city.

The poor air quality could be a problem for days, affecting when residents can return.

“This is something that could potentially delay recovery work and a return to the community,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said, reports the Ottawa Citizen.

Karen Grimsrud, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, told a Canadian radio station that the combination of warmer weather and wind conditions today — compared with cooler weather and more favorable winds last week — had “resulted in the air quality deteriorating significantly.”

Rescue workers currently are wearing respirators. Officials said they hoped to have a timeline for Fort McMurray residents at the end of next week. But air quality concerns affect a larger swath of territory than the evacuated areas. Air quality alerts have been issued for the city of Edmonton, more than 200 miles away from Fort McMurray.

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On a scale of 1 to 10, Fort McMurray’s air pollution is a 38

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Amid fire evacuations, Alberta oil production restarts

A plane flies low to dump fire retardant on wildfires near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Amid fire evacuations, Alberta oil production restarts

By on May 12, 2016 5:05 amShare

It’s time to ask the really important question about the ongoing, devastating Alberta wildfire: How has it affected the province’s oil production? While output has been down by approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil each day since the wildfire began last Wednesday, according to CBC News, for the most part energy facilities were “barely touched” and are starting to kick up production again — albeit slowly.

Many operations have been closed this week due to heavy smoke from the fires — not to mention the fact that there was no one to, you know, operate the facilities as thousands of workers living in Fort McMurray have been evacuated. Officials say that production will slowly begin to pick up pace in the coming days, according to CBC News. And in the early part of this week, the fire began moving away from the region’s largest oil sands deposits.

And as we noted on Tuesday, the residents of Fort McMurray have borne the brunt of the destruction: As of Tuesday, nearly 90,000 people had been forced to flee and 24,000 buildings were destroyed.

Shell Canada and Suncor have restarted operations in limited capacity, BBC reports. Some companies planned to fly in workers to ramp up production since, as mentioned above, many locally-based employees were evacuated from their homes. And as CBC News reports, travel to Fort McMurray is restricted to essential services — which includes commercial vehicles, but not humans that oil production sites employ.

On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced at a press conference that getting oil operations up and running again is “an important step in the recovery of our people.” Yes — the well-being of the people is clearly the focus here.

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Amid fire evacuations, Alberta oil production restarts

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