Months later, Fort McMurray wildfire still smouldering

Thursday, January 5, 2017, 5:29 PM - More than half a year after bursting to life and consuming part of Fort McMurray, Alta., the infamous wildfire that threatened the city is technically still smouldering. 

It still appears on Alberta Wildfire's daily situation reports in the "under control" column, a holdover from last season, when it burned more than 600,000 hectares. But spokesman Mike Long says it's not considered a threat, and isn't likely to roar back to life. 

"We're talking like hotspots, deep below, that there may be smouldering, but certainly no fire, nothing like that," Long told The Weather Network Wednesday.

Long says the soil in the area of the wildfire is infused with peat, a prime fuel, but such hotspots are burning several feet below the surface. Just how long they will continue to do so will depend on how much moisture seeps downward, and that will be a factor of eventual winter snowpack, the spring melt, and then spring rains. This past July, the city and surrounding area saw so much rain, it triggered flash flooding.

WATCH: Fire rains down on Fort McMurray residents during escape in May

As for whether the fire could make a comeback, Long says that's not likely, as the smouldering hot spots are in the area where the fire already passed. As such, all of the potential surface-level fuel is already used up.

The Fort McMurray wildfire sparked to life on May 1, and over the following weeks eventually consumed around 2,400 structures in the city, and inflicted around $4 billion in insured losses alone, to say nothing of uninsured losses.

More than 80,000 people fled the city as the fire approached, but though there are no direct deaths from the fire, two people were killed in a collision during the evacuation.

SOURCE: Alberta Wildfire