Thanks to cooler weather, rain, and the efforts of firefighters, the Fort McMurray wildfire is now classified as under control. The blaze first broke out on May 1st, and forced the largest fire-related evacuation in Alberta’s history.
The fire’s status was downgraded Monday morning, but Alberta Wildfire says there’s still lots of work to be done. Almost 600,000 hectares of land and more than 2,400 structures were burned, and firefighters are busy looking for and putting out hotspots.
It’s expected fully extinguishing the fire will take until next summer. It’s believed it was human-caused, but exactly how it began has not been determined.