Doyle Rice

USA TODAY

Cooler temperatures and light rain Sunday and Monday helped the fight against the devastating Fort McMurray, Alberta, wildfire, which has forced nearly 90,000 people from their homes.

Rachel Notley, the premier of Alberta, hailed first responders for their hard work and with saving almost 90% of the Fort McMurray's population.

The city lost 2,400 structures, but almost 25,000 were saved, she said in a statement Monday. Among those were hospitals, municipal buildings and every functioning school, she said.

"The city will emerge from this emergency with real resiliency, with all critical infrastructure saved," Notley said. "This city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago, but Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities have been saved. And they will be rebuilt."

Alberta fire official Chad Morrison said firefighters were making great progress in battling the blaze thanks to the weather. Monday afternoon, the temperature was 47 degrees and skies were cloudy in Fort McMurray, according to Environment Canada, the nation's weather service.

"It definitely is a positive point for us, for sure," Morrison said at a news conference a day earlier. "We're obviously very happy that we've held the fire better than expected. This is great firefighting weather. We can really get in here and get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it."

There are more than 500 firefighters battling the blaze in and around Fort McMurray, along with 15 helicopters, 14 air tankers and 88 other pieces of equipment, the government of Alberta reported.

The mass evacuations forced as much as a quarter of Canada's oil output offline. The region contains the third-largest reserves of oil in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Despite the good weather, residents of Fort McMurray should not expect to return home for an "extended period of time," according to the Alberta government.

Alberta premier Rachel Notley said the fire has grown to nearly 400,000 acres (625 square miles) as of Sunday and has destroyed more than 1,600 structures.

No deaths or injuries were reported from the fire itself, though two deaths occurred in traffic accidents during the evacuation last week.

Notley toured the region for the first time on Monday and was scheduled to give a press conference later in the day.