Alberta premier to tour fire-ravaged Fort McMurray

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — Alberta's premier gets a first look at the devastation in Canada's oil sands town of Fort McMurray on Monday after cold temperatures and light rain stabilized the massive wildfire to a point where officials can begin the next phase of a plan to get residents back into the oil sands town.

The break in the weather has officials optimistic they've reached a turning point on getting a handle on the massive wildfire.

More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, where the fire has burned 1,600 homes and other buildings in the heart of Canada's oil sands region.

Officials completed the transport of 25,000 residents out of work camps north of the city after police oversaw a procession of thousands of vehicles Friday and Saturday, and a mass airlift of thousands of evacuees was also employed from the oil mine airfields.

The bulk of the city's evacuees moved south after Tuesday's mandatory evacuation order, but 25,000 evacuees moved north and were housed in camps normally used for oil sands workers.

The fire that has scorched homes and burned down whole neighborhoods has forced as much as a third of Canada's oil output offline and was expected to impact an economy already hurt by the fall in oil prices.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs estimated the wildfire has reduced Canada's oil sands production by a million barrels per day, but said in a note the lack of damage to the oil mines could allow for a fast ramp up in production.

Alberta Health Services Dr. Chris Sikora said a viral stomach virus broke out among 40 to 50 evacuees at the Northlands evacuation center in Edmonton where 600 people are staying and where five to six thousand meals a day are being prepared for the thousands of evacuees.

Lac La Biche, Alberta, normally a sleepy town of 2,500 about 175 kilometers (109 miles) south of Fort McMurray, was helping more than 4,000 evacuees, providing a place to sleep, food, donated clothes and even shelter for pets.