Tenants to get brief access to Fort McMurray condos

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

The residents will be permitted to enter their unitsone at a time,for up to 20 minutes each to gathermore belongings.

Residentswere given 10 minutes Friday midnightto get out of the168-unit Penhorwoodcomplexshortly after an evacuation order was issued.

An engineering report found the seven buildingsstructurally unsafe, sayingthe buildings could shift severinggas lines.

Security guards now patrolling the empty buildingscan hear the buildings shifting and cracking,said condo boardpresidentAllan 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 willever 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 inFort McMurray to accomodate all thehomeless.

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