Welcome to Fort McMurray!
Fort McMurray is the largest community in the Athabasca Oil Sands in Alberta, Canada. It lost its city status in 1995 when it merged with a large rural area to form the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and its fortunes have risen and fallen in lockstep with the price of Alberta crude oil, its structures were decimated by a May 2016 wildfire.
Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality (RM) of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant role in the development of the national petroleum industry. The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire led to the evacuation of its residents and caused widespread damage.
Formerly a city, Fort McMurray became an urban service area when it amalgamated with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995, to create the Municipality of Wood Buffalo (renamed the RM of Wood Buffalo on August 14, 1996). Despite its current official designation as an urban service area, many locals, politicians, and the media still refer to Fort McMurray as a city. Fort McMurray was known simply as McMurray between 1947 and 1962.