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The Beast is dead

PHOTO. Rock 97.9 Chris 'Welcome to Fort McMurray' sign, NKS Photography. Used with permission.

Some welcoming news to our community, the beast is dead.

Lynn Daina, wildfire information officer with Alberta Forestry confirms with MyMcMurray that the 2016 Horse River wildfire has officially been extinguished

“It was extinguished on August the second,” said Daina.

She explains why it took 15 months to determine the wildfire was no longer burning.

“With a fire that size it takes time to make sure it is fully extinguished so we wait for a winters worth of snow and then in the summer we check to see if any smoke pops up and if not we use advanced heat detectors from helicopters and make sure there is no remaining heat. Once we determine there is no remaining heat left on the fire, we determine it is extinguished and out.” 

Wildfire crews will continue to work in the area and monitor all areas