Fort McMurray Update
VIA Clean Harbors:
We’re pleased to announce all Fort McMurray area evacuees from the public have checked out of our lodges north of the city. At peak, we were able to shelter 2,100 evacuees at the five locations. With the public moving on, the lodges will begin to transition back to traditional purposes of housing Clean Harbors employees and clients supporting the oil sands operations.
As a precaution, we evacuated our Ruth Lake lodge when the fire came within 8 kilometers of the property over the weekend. We anticipate that location will re-open later in the week. Our Oilsands and Joslyn Creek lodges remain open. We currently have 525 Clean Harbors employees and emergency responders stationed there who are supporting humanitarian efforts to the region with more to come. We sent sleeper and office units to the area and continue to offer potable water and septic services to those in need. Two flights full of Clean Harbors employees and supplies were sent to a nearby airstrip for aid efforts.
We continue to focus on the health and safety of the emergency personnel in the region. Our fleet of temporary housing, command centers, water and wastewater facilities are staged in Wood Buffalo and across Alberta ready to be deployed to assist in the recovery efforts.
We’re working together with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the province and Wood Buffalo officials to provide as much aid as possible to those in need while maintaining our deployment of supplies and employees to the area.