Police officers standing in heavy smoke manage a road block on Highway 63 near Fort McMurray

The wildfires raging for days around Fort McMurray were moving much more slowly on Sunday, Alberta premier Rachel Notley said, as she also lowered the estimate of the devastated region.

Notley said the worst fears from Saturday had not been realized. The fire's eastern edge was still 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Saskatchewan province, and estimates of the area destroyed have been lowered from 2,000 square kilometers to about 1,600.