Fort McMurray wildfire prompts more evacuations, fears of destruction in its wake
The intense wildfire that has already damaged at least 1,600 homes and other buildings in the Alberta community of Fort McMurray advanced south late Wednesday night and into early Thursday, forcing more evacuations.
The new evacuation orders included an emergency operations command post that had previously been forced to move when the massive and capricious blaze engulfed parts of the city on Tuesday.
Officials with the Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo had been notified of changing weather patterns and weren't taking chances, ordering the evacuation of Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation, an aboriginal reservation.
You May Also Like
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
News reports said officials do not yet know if the Fort McMurray Airport had escaped the flames, with airport cameras showing that the blaze approached the perimeter on Wednesday evening.
The fire has already forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people. There was still no indication of injury or death from the fires. The province of Alberta declared a state of emergency on Wednesday.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
"Homes have been destroyed. Neighborhoods have gone up in flames. The footage we've seen of cars racing down highways while fire races on all sides is nothing short of terrifying," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Parliament on Thursday, calling it "the largest fire evacuation in Alberta's history."
Trudeau called on all Canadians "to support our friends and neighbors at this difficult time," saying the federal government will match individual charitable donations to the Red Cross.
Record heat, with temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday reaching about 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or 22 degrees Celsius, above average for this time of year. The heat, combined with dry conditions to transform the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinder box at an unusually early time of year.
Typical high temperatures in Fort McMurray in early May are in the low-to-mid-50s Fahrenheit, or around 11 degrees Celsius.
A dry winter and spring has played a role in elevating the fire danger there, too. In the Northern Hemisphere, April snow cover was the lowest it has been in at least 50 years, according to the Rutgers University Snow Lab.
In addition, long-term trends related to human-caused global warming are also creating more frequent days with extreme fire danger, as well as larger and longer-lasting fires, particularly in the boreal forests.
Fort McMurray is surrounded by wilderness in the heart of Canada's oil sands — the third largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
There was some good news — Fort McMurray's water treatment plant was saved, and Scott Long of Alberta Emergency said the downtown core was being held "through some Herculean efforts" of firefighters.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley flew up to survey the situation firsthand, and tweeted "heartbreaking" pictures of the fire from above. As high as her helicopter was, she said the plumes of smoke reached even higher.
About 10,000 evacuees moved north, where oil sands work camps were being pressed into service to house people. But the bulk of the evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials said they eventually would like to move everyone south.
The fire has dealt a blow to the region's crude production, with companies curtailing production or stopping it altogether. Nexen shut down its Long Lake facility, just south of Anzac, to ensure the safety of staff in the event that the fire reaches the site.
Shell said it has shut down production at its Shell Albian Sands mining operations— about 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Fort McMurray — so it can focus on getting families out of the region. Suncor, the largest oil sands operator, said it is reducing production at its regional facility about 15 miles, or 25 kilometers, north of the city. Syncrude also reduced the number of people working at its Mildred Lake mine.
Weather conditions are forecast to be more favorable for fighting the blaze on Thursday, but temperatures will still be well above average with gusty winds.
In fact, Environment Canada is not forecasting a return to seasonable temperatures until Monday.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
