Busboy

I have two kids a boy and a girl, both are in Ft Mc very often for work, the boy just passes through or picking stuff up and spends 99.9% of his nights in camps, he feels that FT Mc is Ok for a girl. My daughter environmental scientist on the other hand stays in hotels in Ft Mc and her company won't even let her go there without a guy partner, she feels it's a horrible place and would not walk down the street by herself. Two different points of view, my BIL also in the oil patch and often in Ft Mc has yet to chime in, must be out of town.

My niece (23) from Ontario will be going to Ft McMurray and Fort McKay for about 18 months to complete her research, she is out of the country right now and asked us for help and advice on a vehicle and how best to approach this. Any pointers or advice.

morkable

I have lived in Fort Mac for 5 years now. It really is exactly what you make of it.. if you want it to be bad, well it will be bad.. There are a lot of really good people here that are just trying to make a living. I have made some really good friends here. I do not feel any less safe here than I did in Grande Prairie (my home town) In a recent ranking of quality of life in Canada (top 200 cities) Fort McMurray (wood buffalo) ranked 72nd, which was higher than a lot of other cities that would surprise you. Grande Prairie was 90 something

Busboy

Thanks for your input it is always different when you live and work in a place opposed to just passing through, I'll pass that along and to my daughter as well,
I talked to my BIL last night, he knows the Ft Mc and Ft McKay areas very well he's been going there for many years, one thing he mentioned was the traffic problems at shift change times, I would never have thought of that and having to keep enough fuel in the truck to crawl along for up to 2 hours at an idle. I was also surprised at the commercial vehicle speed limit of 15kph when non commercial is 50kph, I think he meant that for Ft Mckay. His company uses gas trucks and they must have Shell cards because he also said that gas can be hard to get sometimes on a Friday, he said he has tried all the Shell stations in town then had to go to a different company to get gas. A diesel would be best but I think for our Niece a gas F150 4X4 extended cab SB would work best and fit in nicely.

P Kennedy

I have been here 14 years but unless you are out dealing drugs at night or walking through alleys in downtown you are pretty safe just like any other place in North America. If you use company supplied busing the traffic delays are non-issue as I am usually asleep between destinations. Fuel shortage is only when Edmonton gasoline supply stocks are down and we have weekend rushes with people going home and weekenders heading out. Most of us are here based on the higher standard of income and work opportunities no different than any large city. Some of the camps are more likely to be dangerous than town with drugs and illegal activity.

morkable

The traffic is bad during rush hour that is for sure.. as for fuel, it is no tougher to find fuel here than in Edmonton. Just a bit more expensive.

Just like what was mentioned, it is a safe community, but if you want to find trouble it is there.

Busboy

Thanks to you both for the comments, I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable, my niece is a university student and will be totally on her own up there, not working for anyone and not getting paid, she's never driven a truck and I doubt she has ever changed a wheel so that concerns me especially since she will be up and down to Edmonton. She had planned on staying in Ft McKay eventually but I don't think that is going to work according to my BIL, so Ft McMurray will be her base for 14-18 months. I'm not sure how she plans on getting onto any of the sites (safety wise) or even convincing the aboriginals to co-operate with her. If she knows traffic is bad at certain times she can plan around that, the gas shortages... not so much. She is starting out in the summer time so at least she won't freeze to death.

1-5-3-6-2-4

I've been in fort mac almost 2 years working now for suncor in the mine. I don't mind the town I guess. I don't like it enough to move my own family up here, but Its not terrible. Like has been said, you can find trouble..... easily, If you go looking for it. But if your on the straight and narrow its like any other blue collar working town.

Dr. Evil

Sh*t Fort McMurrayites Don't Say - YouTube

Busboy

That's pretty much how I expect it is, I just have this feeling she thinks it will be like Hamilton, Ontario, the plan is still on as far as I know.

Mike Holmen

Not sure about you guys, buts there are way worse places to go and work. I liked Fort Mac. Then again I liked the fact that the hotels were clean and decent restaurants. The driving part sucks there, but the money there is pretty sweet.

Not sure if you guys rate hotels on how many bug bites stories.

but saying that we all survive to just find work when you can guys.