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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"top",<br>"author":"marks",<br>"permlink":"fort-mcmurray-wildfire-voted-canada-s-top-news-story-of-2016",<br>"title":"Fort McMurray wildfire voted Canada\u2019s top news story of 2016",<br>"body":"The ferocious wildfire that forced nearly 90,<br>000 to flee Canada\u2019s oilsands region and reduced thousands of homes to rubble has been picked as the top news story of 2016 in an annual survey of newsrooms across Canada.\n\nDubbed \u201cthe beast\u201d for its merciless unpredictability,<br> the Fort McMurray wildfire garnered 39 of the 67 votes cast by senior editors. It was followed by Canada\u2019s ongoing resettlement of Syrian refugees with 11 votes,<br> the fentanyl crisis with six and the Tragically Hip\u2019s farewell tour with five.\n\n\u201cNot even a Hollywood script could match the terror,<br> uncertainty,<br> and heroism to come out of what seemed to be a surreal event,<br>\u201d wrote Dave Barry,<br> news director of CKPG TV in Prince George,<br> B.C.\n\nThe fire began in a remote forested area southwest of the city on May 1 during a spell of unusually hot and dry spring weather. By suppertime on May 3 the flames were inside the city and all of Fort McMurray was under a mandatory evacuation order.\n\nPeople fled from their neighourhoods with forest ablaze on both sides of the road and ash raining down. They crawled bumper-to-bumper along Highway 63 \u2013 the only route out of town.\n\nNobody died as a direct result of the fire,<br> though two teenagers were killed in a highway crash south of the city.\n\nResidents started coming back in early June. The majority returned to unscathed homes,<br> but many had nothing but piles of ash inside blackened foundations.\n\nAll told,<br> the fire consumed some 2,<br>400 units,<br> most residential.\n\nErin O\u2019Neill,<br> operations manager with the municipality\u2019s recovery task force,<br> said 350 rebuilding permits have been approved since the fire and 160 new homes have begun construction.\n\n\u201cDepending on the area,<br> you\u2019re seeing complete houses,<br> you\u2019re seeing some houses that already have siding on them,<br> windows in. You\u2019re seeing other houses that have rafters on. You\u2019re seeing foundations in the ground,<br>\u201d said O\u2019Neill.\n\n\u201cWhen you go into these areas,<br> as opposed to seeing all of that ash and debris,<br> now you\u2019re seeing a site that looks like a new subdivision.\u201d\n\nO\u2019Neill said she\u2019s expecting construction to really pick up in the spring.\n\nFire Chief Darby Allen,<br> who became the face of the battle against the beast,<br> is planning to retire in February.\n\nHe said he\u2019s expecting next year\u2019s wildfire season to be tough on the community,<br> even though there\u2019s not much fuel left to burn.\n\n\u201cI think there will be a lot of tension and trepidation in the public and that\u2019s going to be a challenging time,<br>\u201d he said. \u201cI hope we can find a place to have a little bit of a celebration and remember all the good things that were done.\u201d\n\nSeven months after the fire,<br> many residents are still slogging through their insurance claims. The Insurance Bureau of Canada has pegged the Fort McMurray fire as the costliest insured natural disaster in Canadian history with an estimated $3.77-billion in claims as of mid-November.\n\nThere\u2019s also been a heavy emotional toll. Alberta Health Services documented more than 25,<br>000 contacts with mental health care providers in the Wood Buffalo region between May 10 and Oct. 29.\n\nThe beast struck at a time when low oil prices were already causing the city\u2019s main industry \u2013 the oilsands \u2013 to scale back.\n\nThe fire crimped output by a million barrels a day in May and 700,<br>000 barrels a day in June,<br> says the Alberta government.\n\n\u201cNot only did the fire devastate a wide swath of Alberta but its aftermath had an negative economic impact that continues to ripple across the Canadian economy,<br>\u201d said Paul Samyn,<br> with the Winnipeg Free Press.\n\nWithin six month of the fire,<br> the Red Cross raised $319-million between donations and matching government funds \u2013 the largest domestic appeal in the organization\u2019s history,<br> said vice-president Jenn McManus.\n\n\u201cHaving a population of close to 90,<br>000 people on the move with an evacuation order,<br> that was very alarming for Canadians to witness.\u201d\n\nMany newsroom bosses cited the outpouring of support the city received in making their pick.",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"top\",<br>\"news\",<br>\"story\",<br>\"huge\",<br>\"fire\" ,<br>\"app\":\"steemit\/0.1\",<br>\"format\":\"markdown\" " | | vote | "voter":"marks",
"author":"marks",
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