Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada.
Fort McMurrayis anurban service areain theRegional Municipality (RM) of Wood BuffaloinAlberta, Canada.It is located innortheast Alberta, in the middle of theAthabasca oil sands, surrounded byboreal forest. It has played a significant role in thedevelopment of the national petroleum industry.Formerly a city, Fort McMurray became an urban service area when it amalgamated with Improvement District No. 143 on April 1, 1995, to create the Municipality of Wood Buffalo (renamed the RM of Wood Buffalo on August 14, 1996).Despite its current official designation of urban service area, many locals, politicians and the media still refer to Fort McMurray as a city. Fort McMurray was known simply as McMurray between 1947 and 1962.