More evacuees of the burned-out Alberta town of Slave Lake will be getting a first-hand look Tuesday morning at the devastation wildfires wreaked on their town a week ago.
This follows a visit by another group on Monday, when about 250 residents toured the town on five buses to see what was left.
Many who took the tour say they now understand why they're not being allowed back in, a full week after the fire.
Brenda Derkoch, who lost her home, says there are just too many hazards remaining -- especially for kids.
Despite what she saw, she said she was glad she did the tour.
"It made me feel much better," Derkoch said Monday.
"My house is gone, all my neighbours' houses are gone, but we have all our schools. We have the hospital. We have so many people out there working so hard for us."
Dave Derkoch said the tour brought a flood of emotions.
"As we started to get through town, the tears started coming. As we were getting through neighbourhoods, people were hugging each other and tears were flowing and they were holding each other for a few minutes. Then they'd wipe off the tears and stand up and look out the window and have another look," Derkoch said.
During Monday's tour, priority was given to those residents living in evacuation centres in Edmonton, Athabaska and Westlock who had lost everything to the wildfires.
No one was allowed off the bus for safety reasons, and they were only permitted to tour a pre-mapped route of the town. No members of the media were allowed to attend.
Some residents said the devastation was hard to absorb.
"It looked like a nuclear bomb had hit it," Gerry Gliege said. "It's hard to even recognize where your own place is."
Much of the town was burned in the wildfires and about 7,000 people were displaced.
Tensions ran high during a weekend meeting as residents complained about the rate of information being given out by officials.
Another 250 residents will take the tour Tuesday. Tom Neufeld, a spokesperson for the province's emergency operations centre, said Monday the government will then re-evaluate the situation to determine whether further tours are feasible.
"Ideally, we'd have more people going up. But right now, the safety of residents, and putting out fires and making sure the recovery effort is not disrupted is really paramount," Neufeld told The Canadian Press from Edmonton.
Officials decided on Sunday to allow residents to tour the town, as emotions ran high among evacuees wondering about the extent of the damage.
The province has extended the evacuation order for at least another week, due to remaining hot spots, air quality concerns and possible gas leaks.
More than 2,000 firefighters are battling more than 50 wildfires in Alberta, 10 of which are considered to be out of control.
Though no one was killed in the Slave Lake fire, a pilot was killed on Friday while battling a blaze at Canyon Creek, when his helicopter crashed into Lesser Slave Lake.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
With files from The Canadian Press
