Alberta Fire Costs in the Billions

It is currently being estimated that $5.3 billion will be injected into Alberta’s economy to rebuild after the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires, making this event Canada’s costliest natural disaster. See, The Economic Impacts of the 2016 Alberta Wildfires.

While the investment back into Alberta is welcomed, it would be a rare event to see new money replacing the losses experienced by the disaster. The human toll doesn't have a dollar attached to losing everything in a fire and the angst of deciding to stay or move to where you think you might be safer in the future.

The reconstruction industry will boom for a number of years as insurance and government programs attempt to replace the property losses. This new economic activity is welcomed in the region due the collapse of the oil sand market and depressed price of oil worldwide.