Tenants to get brief access to Fort McMurray condos

More than 300 people forced out of their condos in Fort McMurray last weekend will be allowed limited access to their homes Wednesday.

The residents will be permitted to enter their units one at a time, for up to 20 minutes each to gather more belongings. 

Residents were given 10 minutes Friday midnight to get out of the 168-unit Penhorwood complex shortly after an evacuation order was issued.

An engineering report found the seven buildings structurally unsafe, saying the buildings could shift severing gas lines.

Security guards now patrolling the empty buildings can hear the buildings shifting and cracking, said condo board president Allan Vinni.

"Right now these buildings are suffering serious structural failure, where the security people who have been watching these buildings over the last couple days are reporting, hearing cracking and banging of failures of structural component through the day and night," he said. 

Vinni doesn't believe anyone will ever live in the buildings again.

The problem now for many residents is finding another place to live, Vinni said. There simply isn't enough housing in Fort McMurray to accomodate all the homeless.

Tenants will be getting an update at a public meeting Tuesday night.