By Rod Nickel
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta, May 9 (Reuters) - The wildfire that
swept through the Canadian city of Fort McMurray blazed a
capricious trail. Swathes of homes were burned to the ground
while nearby areas were unscathed and dotted with blooming
lilacs, a tour showed on Monday.
In Beacon Hill, one of the worst-hit neighborhoods of a city
that booms and busts with the price of oil, houses on street
after street were reduced to nothing more than blackened
foundations and front steps. Metal barbecues stood outside some.
Cars and trucks sat in some driveways on melted tires,
streams of once-molten metal snaked from underneath.
"This was a beast. It was an animal. It was a fire like I've
never seen in my life," Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen
told reporters, who were allowed to tour the oilsands city by
bus on Monday afternoon.
The uncontrollable wildfire forced the evacuation of the
entire city six days ago. Some 88,000 residents fled on the one
highway that leads into the remote community in northern
Alberta.
While Allen told reporters he believes 85 percent of the
city's homes and businesses were still intact, much of the tour
focused on the worst-hit neighborhoods where hundreds of homes
were destroyed.
In the devastated neighborhood of Abasand, one side of a
street was intact, barely touched by fire, while townhomes on
the other side of the street were burned to the ground.
Three bikes - an adult bike and two for children - leaned
against a fence, burned to just their metal frames and wheel
rims.
Blackened ground and trees contrasted starkly with patches
of green grass and flowers elsewhere. Sometimes they were just
inches apart.
"There's not much left ... It is pretty much destroyed,"
Allen said of Beacon Hill.
But some structures survived. Two schools were largely
untouched, their brightly colored slides and swings eerily
deserted as residents remained barred from re-entering the city.
The Canadian flag still flew over the school complex, unmarked
by the flames.
Much of the downtown and key infrastructure such as a
hospital and bridges were also spared, as firefighters gave up
on some neighborhoods to focus on saving others.
Allen said firefighters at one point had to work to save
their own firehall. Nearby, a trailer park was largely
destroyed.
"I do truly believe we couldn't do any more," he said.
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Officials encouraged by how much of Canada city spared by
wildfire nL2N1860GY
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(Additional writing by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Cynthia
Osterman)