40,000 Fort McMurray residents are eligible to come home Thursday.
Officials expect about half of that number to travel back to the northern Alberta city, after about 8,000 of a potential 15,000 people returned to Fort McMurray Wednesday.
Included in the “zone 2” re-entry is Fort McMurray’s largest neighbourhood, Timberlea. Other areas invited to return home Thursday include Parsons Creek, Stone Creek, Eagle Ridge and Dickinsfield.
Scott Long from Alberta Emergency Management Agency said in a statement that re-entry went “very smoothly” Wednesday.
About half of the 80,000 people displaced by the wildfires were expected to return to the community by the end of the week.
However, not everyone is able to return home in the near future. Approximately 500 homes in Beacon Hill, Waterways and Abasand remain off-limits. The homes are unsafe for re-entry until further notice, following tests that revealed toxic chemicals in air and soil samples.
The wildfire continues to burn out of control in northern Alberta, covering about 580,000 hectares of land.
