Fort McMurray evacuees waiting to return home

[A neighbourhood in Fort McMurray, Alta., destroyed by a wildfire that entered the city on May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie]

Relief is being tempered by frustration for some residents of Fort McMurray who continue to wait for emergency funds and try to cope with an ever-changing schedule for their return.

A voluntary, phased re-entry is to begin June 1 but environmental concerns have forced one postponement after another for residents from the most heavily affected areas, says Darryl Cooke, one of tens of thousands of evacuees.

“There are about 8,000 people sitting there in absolute bewilderment, wondering what’s the situation to them,” Cooke tells Yahoo Canada News.

Some have already returned to the area where over 80,000 people were forced to flee May 3 by a wildfire that destroyed 2,400 buildings but left 25,000 other structures intact including the hospital, municipal buildings and schools. Several stores re-opened their doors on Monday.

But in Cooke’s neighbourhood of Beacon Hill and others, the plan remains unclear as authorities wait for environmental testing results. There are more questions than answers, he says.

“There’s people who are beside themselves trying to it figure out. It doesn’t matter who you phone,” he says.

Officials have asked that residents with chronic medical conditions, who are in late-term pregnancy or who might need regular health care or treatments not return until the regional health centre is fully operational.

Schools will not remain closed until September.

Cooke’s neighbourhood of Beacon Hill was to open for re-entry on June 4 but that’s now up in the air.

“This just won’t do. This is ridiculous,” says Cooke, who fled his home at 3 a.m. as flames rolled over the region.

Officials told residents for those neighbourhoods during a telephone town hall last Thursday that test results were expected Friday. That was postponed to Saturday, which then became Sunday.

Cooke still doesn’t know.

“Now if you ask them on Facebook, they don’t even answer you,” he says.

He believes authorities are being overly cautious about the environmental conditions. Caustic ash is to be expected in the aftermath of a fire, even if just trees had burned. Heavy metals are also common, he says.

“I don’t want them to turn this into a flipping Chernobyl,” he says. “They’ve had ample time to get their act together and communicate a whole lot more up front with us than they have.

“We need answers.”

Cooke knows his home is still standing and he’d like to know when he can return. Until then, he and others remain in “insurance and housing limbo.”

He’s staying with a cousin in Cochrane and has another place he could stay in Fort McMurray.

“I’m one of the more fortunate ones. You hear stories about people running out of money,” he says.

“They just can’t keep us in the dark forever.”

On Facebook, several residents say they are still waiting for Red Cross relief funds four weeks after fleeing their homes.

Officials were not immediately available to comment but comments on the Fort McMurray Evacuation Relocation Help Group page indicate that Red Cross staff are working to expedite payments to those in need.

While celebrating the re-opening of several convenience stores, grocery stores and other services in Fort McMurray, residents also reported challenges in sorting out home insurance claims.

And group members were informed that they would need to contact the Employment Insurance agency, as access codes for claims were mailed to Fort McMurray addresses that remain evacuated.

Provincial officials planned another telephone town hall late Monday afternoon to update residents on the situation.