The costliest disaster in Canadian history - this is how the Fort McMurray wildfire will likely be remembered. 

For the residents, the ordeal meant evacuating their homes with only ten minutes warning - the flames had entered the city. 

The culture of safety that's so pervasive in the oil and gas industry lead to a courteous evacuation with no loss of life. What's more, the tragedy brought the best out in Canadians. 

When residents and the media were allowed to return, I travelled to Fort McMurray to document the aftermath both in terms of how the fire impacted the city and the boreal forest. 

These images tell the story of what happened to the community and offer a glimpse of the ways in which the boreal forest will rise from the ashes. 

Many vehicles belonging to guests of Chateau Nova Hotel burned in the fire, including this truck. The steel beams in the background indicate where the hotel’s lobby once stood. Flames jumped from the trees to the building. Surprisingly, some of vehicles parked near the trees survived the fire, including a truck with a fuel tank in the box.

Once lush and emerald green, the boreal forest of northern Alberta is now charred and blackened following the Fort McMurray fire. Prior to the inferno, the amount of bushes, branches and underbrush would have made walking here a challenge.

This is what a mature boreal forest looks like. Dense vegetation creates countless obstacles for hikers. The dominant species are spruce, aspen, fir and pine. Although it appears destructive, fire is a natural part of this ecosystem that brings new life.

A fire-ravaged forest may seem like a foreboding place a person would best not enter, but with the right knowledge and equipment it can offer excellent photographs.

A close-up of a tree trunk shows the remnants of the fire emergency crews nicknamed The Beast. All told, the blaze burned about 1.5 million acres. That's roughly the same size as three Calgarys.

Heat generated by thousands of trees burning together caused embers the size of bricks to be blown skyward by columns of rising hot air.

The Fort McMurray wildfire descended upon some of the region's campgrounds while leaving others untouched. This tree trunk hints at how little is left of the campground where this photo was taken.

Rain did eventually quell the fire, but it fell so hard there was a chance Fort McMurray would experience localized flooding. Fortunately, that didn't happen.

New life sprouted from the blackened forest floor after the rains came.

Vegetation bravely emerges from the burned spruce needles and charred soil of the boreal forest. The black earth absorbs sunlight and stimulates new growth.

A skeletal forest of darkened tree trunks will eventually be replaced by healthy and vigorous woodlands.

How he survived the fire is anyone's guess.

Some coniferous trees need fire to regenerate. The heat opens their pine cones and allows the seeds to spread. Fire is therefore part of a natural cycle of rejuvenation.

The scarred landscape around Fort McMurray will remain black and crisp for a while, but in some places greenery is bursting forth from the ashes.

What was once the aluminium trim on a vehicle became molten and flowed like lava during the wildfire – an indication of the blaze’s intense heat. Aluminium melts at 660 Celsius.

This appears to be a rubber skid mark, but it's actually soot from an emergency vehicle that drove through one of the fire-ravaged neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray. Unexpected images such as this await photographers after forest fires.

Although the Fort McMurray fire partially melted this solar light, it continues to shine – a testament to the northern community’s inextinguishable spirit.

When treated with respect, cemeteries can be excellent places to photograph and to get a better understanding of how members of a community cope with adversity. This rosary is in the Métis town of Fort McKay located north of Fort McMurray. The town was evacuated as a precaution, but didn't suffer any fire damage.

If it's built, the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline would bring jobs to Fort McMurray, but it would also cause environmental damage.

What would normally be boreal forest is part of the Alberta Oil Sands Project. Once the oil has been extracted, the remaining sand is heaped into massive piles such as this. The stark landscape is interesting to photograph, but at what cost?

Some of the oil sands have been reclaimed, such as this meadow about 30 minutes from Fort McMurray. A petroleum company replanted the boreal species that grew here before the oil sands were mined.

The wildfire spared most of the city, but some neighbourhoods experienced very heavy losses. The neighbourhood of Waterways, pictured here, is a residential area that suffered 90 per cent destruction, most of it to homes, but several business were also destroyed.

Insulation is hanging from a ceiling that lost one of its supporting walls during the fire. When taking pictures in disaster areas, it's important to show the damage tastefully. If property owners don't want photographs taken, it's crucial to respect their wishes in order to preserve photography's integrity.

After a winter with little snow and a dry spring, northern Alberta's forests were desiccated and susceptible to fire. Once the blaze started, it became impossible to contain. Estimates say this will be Canada's costliest disaster. On the bright side, Fort McMurray's 90,000 residents were evacuated without incident.

Two weeks after the blaze, many of Fort McMurray's residents returned. However, the fire claimed 2,400 structures, most of them houses. For those homeowners, it remains to be see if they'll rebuild or start a new life elsewhere.