Alberta govt releases fire damage surveillance app

Fort McMurray - Alberta's provincial government has released an app that will give residents of wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray a good look at their properties.

Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee warned on Sunday that viewing the satellite images may be traumatic. A number for Alberta's Mental Health Help Line is included in Larivee's news release.

She says the maps are intended to provide satellite overviews of the city following a massive wildfire that ignited almost two weeks ago, forcing more than 80 000 residents to evacuate and destroying more than 2 400 structures in Fort McMurray. But firefighters managed to save 85 to 90% of the oil sands capital.

Larivee says that having lived through a devastating fire and evacuation herself five years ago, she knows how stressful it can be to wait for updates on which homes have been lost.