Epilogue:

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-ne...after-15-months

Fort McMurray — After 458 days, the Horse River fire that destroyed thousands of homes and scattered tens of thousands of people across Canada is finally dead.

Even after the fire was declared under control on July 4, 2016, embers burned throughout the area during the fall. As the days grew colder, it burned underground and remained there throughout winter.

As spring approached, forestry workers began scanning the area for hot spots before they had a chance to burn again. The fire remained underground throughout the summer, Dania said, and did not flare up into a wildfire this year.

“The firefighters would dig down into an ash pit and extinguish where the heat was coming from,” she said. “They were scanning the area for heat from helicopters and keeping an eye on the area.”

The May 2016 wildfire destroyed 1,595 buildings, which includes 2,579 living spaces and 22 commercial spaces. According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, it is the costliest disaster in Canadian history.