Slave Lake Residents Return

The northern Alberta town will begin its return to normalcy today with thousands of evacuees coming back to their homes.

Residents of Slave Lake, Alta., whose homes survived a massive wildfire that swept through the town last week, will be allowed to return today. Beginning at 8 a.m. local time, the first large batch of evacuees will check in with authorities at a community centre before heading home, where cleanup kits have been left on driveways to help residents restore a sense of normalcy to the town, a third of which was levelled by the fires. All other residents will be allowed to return in the afternoon. Business owners and emergency personnel were given the go-ahead to return earlier in the week. Those whose homes burned down will have to keep living in emergency shelters in nearby cities.