Article content

Fort McMurray — The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is getting $87.5 million in advanced disaster funding to help cover recovery costs following the May wildfire, the Alberta government announced Thursday.

With the money, the disaster recovery program will be able to assist with uninsurable costs such as “emergency response, evacuation, cleanup of damaged areas and public spaces and repairs to public infrastructure damaged by the wildfire,” the province said.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Alberta government provides $87.5 million to assist Fort McMurray following massive wildfire Back to video

The advance will help cover approximately half of the fire-response costs, estimated at $175 million.

Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said in a news release “this advance on disaster recovery funds is part of that promise and will ensure the municipality can keep moving forward to clean up and rebuild without having to carry a heavy financial burden.”

Late last month, Larivee announced a program that would help homeowners when it came to choosing construction companies to rebuild their homes.

Construction companies hoping to help with rebuilding Fort McMurray will have to complete a “builder declaration” before applying for a building permit.

The purpose is to weed out any shady or incompetent builders. Homeowners can go online and view a company’s work history, corporate and financial background, and any outstanding fines.

With files from Vincent McDermott

sjellett@postmedia.com