As much of Alberta experienced a wet and cool May long weekend, officials said firefighting crews had their work cut out for them, after little rain fell in the area of the province’s only out-of-control wildfire.

Meanwhile, officials with the Canadian Red Cross confirmed to CTV News that donations to wildfire relief efforts had exceeded $100 million - about $102 million in total had been raised.

The wildfire in the Fort McMurray area is now estimated to be 522,892 hectares in size, with 2,500 hectares burning in Saskatchewan – the fire is being fought on both sides of the border.

Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said Tuesday morning that while cold temperatures and wet weather were recorded throughout much of Alberta over the long weekend, but that did not extend the area of Fort McMurray. Officials said the southern edge of the massive wildfire received between 3 and 5 millimetres of rain, while the northern edge – where the fire is most active – received none.

With little precipitation expected in the coming days, crews are expected to have a difficult time fighting the fire.

Throughout the province, Larivee said there are 1,989 firefighters, 88 helicopters, 25 air tankers and 253 pieces of heavy equipment working.

In Alberta, Larivee said there are 17 active wildfires – one is out-of-control, one is being held (wildfire in Peace River Clear Hills), fourteen are under control (including the fire in Lac La Biche) and one has been turned over to local crews.

Of all the firefighting resources being utilized in Alberta, the most resources have been placed in Fort McMurray where the wildfire risk is considered to be extreme, and fewer in other parts of the province where the fire risk is lower.

In addition, officials said about 1,000 more firefighting crews are slated to come in from across Canada, the United States and South Africa, to relieve firefighters currently on the ground.

Re-entry plan still on-track: province

Meanwhile, the province said work to ensure basic services are available to returning evacuees continued, the province said electricity had been restored to 90 percent of the community, and natural gas had been restored to 99 percent of the community, outside of the areas of Abasand, Waterways and Beacon Hill.

Also, the boil water advisory remained in place for the area, and would stay in effect until water lines are flushed, reservoirs cleaned and sampling confirms water quality.

Officials said restoration work on the hospital resumed Sunday, while the mobile urgent care centre in Fort McMurray now has an operating room, an anesthesiologist, an obstetrician and a general surgeon.

Health services are available to anyone in Fort McMurray, including restoration workers, and will be available to residents once they re-enter the city.

The province said the phased and voluntary re-entry of evacuees was still scheduled to start on June 1 – however, services will not be fully operation by that date, and some evacuees may want to wait to return to get personal items, but go back to their temporary accommodation for the time being.

Starting on Tuesday, distribution of pre-loaded debit cards was moved to Alberta Works offices.

Now, cards areavailable for pickup at Alberta Works locations (between 8: 15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., unless otherwise specified):

  • Edmonton – Edmonton City Centre (10242 105 Street)
  • Edmonton – Edmonton North, 2050 Northgate Centre (9499 137 Avenue)
  • Edmonton – Edmonton south, Argyll Centre (6325 Gateway Boulevard NW)
  • Edmonton – Edmonton West, 120 Meadowlark Shopping Centre (15710 87 Avenue)
  • Calgary – Calgary Central, 3 Floor RPW Building (1021 10 Avenue SW)
  • Calgary – Calgary East, Main Floor Radisson Centre (525 28 Street SE)
  • Calgary – Calgary North, One Executive Place (1816 Crowchild Trail NW)
  • Calgary – Calgary South, 100 Fisher Park II (6712 Fisher Street SE)
  • Red Deer – 2nd Floor First Red Deer Place (4911 51 Street) (Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
  • Lac La Biche – Provincial Building (9503 Beaverhill Road)
  • Grande Prairie – 100 Towne Centre Mall (9845 99 Avenue) (Hours: 8:15 a.m. – noon, then 1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.)
  • Medicine Hat – Lower Level Room, Provincial Building (5, 346 3 Street Southeast)
  • Lethbridge – Main Floor, Provincial Building (200-5 Avenue South)

So far, the province said as of Monday night, 35,797 cards have been distributed to 73,395 people – in total $76.4 million has been distributed.

The province said officials are looking at getting funds to evacuees who are out of the province.

There is no cutoff date for evacuees to get the funds.

Wood Buffalo RCMP detachment back online

Officials with RCMP said Tuesday that their detachment in the Timberlea area, on the north side of Fort McMurray was back up and running.

RCMP were forced out of that particular detachment on May 3, due to the wildfire.

After they were evacuated, officials said staff kept working to ensure the safe evacuation of residents, with police working out of a number of locations until their detachment on the south side of the city was determined to be safe.

RCMP said local officers were relieved of their duties when members from other parts of Alberta and Canada arrived.

Since then, officials said the majority of local RCMP members had returned to work – with 79 members from other detachments still working to help with security patrols.

Officials said personnel working in Fort McMurray are staying outside of the evacuation zone, which they will continue to do until the phased re-entry begins on June 1.

RCMP said the Timberlea detachment was closed until Tuesday due to interior air quality. Air scrubbers were used to make it safe again – there was no significant damage to the building.