By Ernest Scheyder
WANDERING RIVER, Alberta, May 13 (Reuters) - Canadian PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau will on Friday see the devastationcaused by a wildfire that tore through the Alberta town of FortMcMurray and forced several oil sands operations to shut down.
The inferno is the first natural disaster to confrontTrudeau, whose Liberals took power last November. He promisesthe federal government will do everything it can to help in arebuilding effort likely to take years.
After touring the most damaged areas, Trudeau will hold anews conference with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at 5:15 p.m.ET (2115 GMT) in the provincial capital of Edmonton.
The 88,000 people who were evacuated hurriedly as the towncaught fire are living in temporary accommodation across theprovince while authorities work to restore power, gas, water andcommunications.
Local officials say it will be 10 days before they can evenproduce a plan for resettlement, much less allow people toreturn to a place where small fires are still erupting.
"I know how stressful it is to leave everything behind,"said Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee.
"But your safety is very important to us and your communityis not yet safe and until it is people cannot go home," she tolda news conference on Thursday.
A Reuters eyewitness saw a steady stream of trucks carryingdrinking water head north on Thursday towards the large campsthat house workers employed by oil sands projects.
The wildfire knocked out nearly half, or 1.07 millionbarrels per day (bpd) of Alberta's oil sands capacity. Theeffort to restart projects is progressing slowly.
Four major oil firms operating in the area around FortMcMurray have now declared force majeure, a contract clause toremove liability for unavoidable catastrophes.
The fire spans 241,000 hectares (596,000 acres), growingmuch more slowly than before. The Canadian military, which hadprovided transport planes and helicopters, said on Thursday theaircraft would start returning home.
Around 350 soldiers though will remain on a state ofheightened readiness.
"This fight is not over," said Brigadier General Wayne Eyre,involved with military aid effort.
"This is just the beginning of what could be a long hotsummer," he told the news conference with Larivee. (With additional reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Writingby David Ljunggren; Editing by Sandra Maler)
