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Fort McMurray

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Also known as McMurray, Fort Mac, Fort McMurray, Alberta, Fort McMurray, AB, Fort McMurray Urban Service Area

municipality in Alberta, Canada

Key facts

Country
Canada
Province
Alberta
Region
Northern Alberta
Specialized municipality
RM of Wood Buffalo
Village
May 6, 1947
Town
December 29, 1948
New town
June 30, 1964
City
September 1, 1980
Name changed
June 1, 1962
Amalgamated
April 1, 1995
Mayor
Sandy Bowman
Governing body
Wood Buffalo Municipal Council Mike Allen Ty Brandt Lance Bussieres Luana Bussieres Don Scott Jennifer Vardy Kendrick Cardinal Greg "Cowboy" Marcel Stu Wigle Kyle Vandecasteyen
Mp
Laila Goodridge ( CPC )
Mla
Brian Jean ( UCP ) Tany Yao ( UCP )
Urban
52.17 km (20.14 sq mi)
Elevation
260 m (850 ft)
Urban density
1,303.5/km (3,376/sq mi)
Municipal census 2021
72,917

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Official name
Urban Service Area of Fort McMurray
Country
Canada
Population
68002
Area
52.17
Elevation
260
Shares border with
Wood Buffalo National Park
Official website
www.rmwb.ca
Image
Fort mcmurray aerial.jpg
Show 9 more facts
topic's main category
Category:Fort McMurray
name
Fort McMurray
Commons category
Fort McMurray
postal code
T9K
native label
Fort McMurray
time of earliest written record
1870-00-00
inception
1947-05-06
category of associated people
Category:People from Fort McMurray
Commons gallery
Fort McMurray, Alberta
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

~18 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Fort McMurray (/məkˈmʌri/ mək-MURR-ee) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality 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 of 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.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fort McMurray” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

On the map

2 mapped locations