Insurance Bureau of Canada to Release Total Insured Damage from Alberta Fires

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — The Insurance Bureau of Canada is to announce later today its estimate of total insured damage caused by the wildfires in Fort McMurray, Alta.

The fires in May forced the evacuation of almost 90,000 residents from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and destroyed about 2,400 homes and other buildings.

People have since been allowed back into the community, but it took nearly two months before a state of emergency could be lifted.

The bureau said the estimate will be the first based on data collected by Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc., a company that compiles insured loss amounts based on surveys with insurers.