City at Epicenter of Canada Fires 'Virtually Intact'

The center of the city at the heart of the forest fires raging through Alberta's oil sands region remains "largely intact" even though outlying neighborhoods have suffered serious damage, the authorities said Friday.

Fort McMurray's downtown area "is largely intact, the hospital is still standing, the telephone center is intact and the water treatment center is back up and running," Alberta's Premier Rachel Notley told reporters during a news conference, adding that municipal buildings and the airport also remain intact.

However, other areas of the oil city have been ravaged by the forest and brush fires that were moving east.

Firefighters have been working to save as many residential areas as possible, Notley said.

"We've been able to hold the line for the most part in those residential areas," she said.

However, the city's general outlook remains bleak.

"There is no doubt that the damage is extensive and will take many months to repair," Notley said, speaking of the "heartbreaking" devastation of barren landscapes and houses reduced to smoldering ashes.

The city of 100,000 has been completely evacuated since the authorities issued a mandatory evacuation order shortly before midnight Tuesday.

The fires have engulfed 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of forest, including at least 12,000 in the area surrounding Fort McMurray, where 2,000 homes have been destroyed.

The government has declared a state of emergency in Alberta, a province the size of France that is home to one of the world's most prodigious oil industries.

More than 1,100 firefighters are battling 49 separate blazes across the province -- seven of them totally out of control.

Overcoming the monster fires will take "weeks and weeks," Alberta fire department senior manager Chad Morrison said.

"Right now, we do really need some rain, no question about it," he said. "And even once we get rain, there's still going to be a lot of fire out there."

The provincial government will provide around Can$100 million ($77 million U.S.) in immediate financial assistance to evacuees, Notley said, warning it may take some time before they can return to their homes.

The aid was due to help about 80,000 people.

Earlier in the week, officials painted a devastating picture of the city's southwest, where the blaze was more violent.

Fire has destroyed some 90 percent of the Waterways neighborhood and 70 percent of Beacon Hill, city officials said. Half of the Abasand neighborhood further north was reduced to piles of ash.

The total cost from the catastrophe could reach $6 billion, according to a Bank of Montreal analyst.