The Alberta government have released an app that will help evacuees see if “the beast” took their home.
At the beginning of May the wildfire forced over 90,000 from their homes.
The fire tore through several neighbourhoods — primarily Beacon Hill and Abasands — but it did hit others sporadically leaving evacuees wondering about the state of their homes.
The government hopes that the app will be able to provide them with some tentative answers with the help of the satellite Pléaides-1A.
An illustration of the Pléaides-1A. (CNES)
The satellite was launched in 2011 by CNES, France’s space agency, with the Pléaides-1B. The satellites cover a total area of 1 million square kilometres daily and orbit the whole of the earth every 26 days.
The government says they will release higher resolution images as they become available.
“Having been through a devastating fire and evacuation myself, I know firsthand how stressful it is to wait for updates on which homes have been lost,” Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee said in a statement.
“We are committed to providing information to residents as soon as we can, and these images will help us begin to answer the questions people have about the state of their homes and community.”
Larivee was evacuated from Slave Lake during the wildfires five years ago.
She points out while the app will help with insurance claims it’s important to realize that “structures that appear to be standing should not be considered undamaged.”
However, the government hopes that when the higher-resolution images become available it will help homeowners with insurance claims.
You can access the app here.