Canadian officials say they have reached a turning point in the fight against the wildfire near Fort McMurray. They hope to get a "death grip" on the blaze as cooler temperatures and rain provided better weather for firefighting.

"For us this is great firefighting weather, we can really get in there and really get a handle on this fire and really get a death grip on it. But for the wildfires stuff out in the forest area, that is going to take us a long time to clean up," said Chad Morrison, Wildfire Canada. "But I feel very buoyed and happy that we are making great progress especially in the community, especially so we can get first responders there located back in the community continuing to mop up hotspots and make it safe as soon as we can."