Military veterans to help search through ashes of Fort McMurray's burned homes

Military veterans will sift through the ashesof burned-out homes next week inFortMcMurray'shardest hit neighbourhoods, helping residents retrieve whatever personal items they can find.

People who lost their homes inAbasand, Beacon Hill, and Waterways will be accompaniedby members of an NGO group called Team Rubicon.

"Forsafetyreasons, residents will not be allowed to visit destroyed homes on their own," Bob Couture, director of emergency management for the municipality, said at a news conference Friday."Once on site, residents may instruct Team Rubicon where to sift for specific items in the rubble."

Those visits are scheduled to begin June 8. It hasn't beenannounced yet when residents inthose restricted areas, whose homes did not burn down, will be allowed toreturn.

Rick Brown lived with his family in the Waterways neighbourhood. His house was destroyed by the fire, so he's in no rush to get back.

"Our place got wiped out, someone sent us a text the other day," said Brown."They've coated it with some white chemical or something, and it's all fenced off. So essentially we can go watch and that's it."

"It is what it is, we can't do anything about it, so we just gotta move on."

• From war to wildfire: Veteran volunteers help Fort McMurray
• Going back to FortMcMurray? Here's what you need to know

Escorted visits to destroyed homes outside the restricted areas will begin on June 5.

Team Rubicon, started in 2010 inHaitiby two marines, has been deployed to some of the biggest disastersin recent memory. This is Team Rubicon Canada's first deployment.

According to the team website, itsservice combines"the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams."

Members ofTeam Rubicon are already in theFort McMurrayarea, cleaning anddecontaminating food forthe Wood Buffalo Food Bank.

The municipality is now working in the restricted areas to applytackifier,a powder that dries to a hard shell. It is used to cover the ash, which health officials said can be toxic, to keepitfrom becomingairborne.

Workers have finished applyingtackifier to structures in Waterways andhave coveredabout 35 per cent of destroyed areasin Abasand. Work started on Beacon Hill on Thursday.

Returning home

On Wednesday, only 8,000 of the13,000 residents eligibleto returnto the city came back. The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, estimatedupwardof 20,000 of the possible 40,000 eligible residents returned on Thursday.

On Friday, people in Zones 3 and 4A could begin their return. This includes the neighbourhoods of Prairie Creek, Wood Buffalo, Gregoire, SapareCreek and Thickwood.About22,000 residentsare eligible to return, but officials expect only about half will do so.

Traffic barricades on Highway 63 have been removed. But some areas of the city, including the hardest-hit neighbourhoods, remain restricted until debris is removed.

The wildfire remains at a massive 581,695 hectares, with nosignificant growth in the past 48 hours.It isalmost 50 per cent contained. Fort McMurray is not considered threatened.

There was some good news for rentersThursday. Municipal officialsannounced a price freeze on rental housing, and hotel rooms toeliminateprice gouging.

"Operators must maintain the prices that were in effect on April 30," the municipality said in a sternly worded statement.

The Red Crossannouncedit is committing $50 million to help community organizations within the Fort McMurrayregionget back on their feet.

In total, the Red Cross has spent or committed$165 million to the areasince the wildfire hit.

• Fort McMurray hotels, landlords warned: no price gouging
• Red Cross pledges $50M to get Fort McMurray community groups back on feet