Wildfire that ravaged Fort McMurray may last for months – Canadian officials

[umbertino]

Authorities say blaze will continue to grow in hot, dry conditions amid fears it could reach a major oil sands mine and the nearby province of Saskatchewan

Associated Press in Lac La Biche, Alberta

Sunday 8 May 2016 16.17 BST

Canadian officials say they expect to fight the massive wildfire that has destroyed large parts of Alberta’s oil sands town for months.

It is feared the fire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine, and even the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

The Alberta government said the huge blaze in the province will cover more than 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres) by Sunday and continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it was not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months.

Morrison said the fire was burning away from communities this weekend. He expected cooler temperatures and possible rainfall on Sunday, but significant rainfall was needed. Environment Canada forecasted a 70% chance of showers late on Sunday and overnight.

Officials had hoped to complete the mass evacuation of work camps north of Fort McMurray on Saturday. As convoys continued, thousands of displaced residents got a drive-by view of some of the burned-out neighborhoods. No deaths or injuries have been reported since the fire started last Sunday.

About 12,000 evacuees have been airlifted from oil sands areas in the past two days, and about 7,000 have left in highway convoys escorted by police. The goal was to complete the evacuation from northern work camps by Sunday.

The fire could reach the edges of the Suncor oil sands facility, about 15 miles north of Fort McMurray. Non-essential staff were evacuating and efforts to protect the site were under way. Oil sands mines are cleared and have no vegetation.

Morrison said the fire was not expected to reach the oil sands mines north of Suncor.

The fire and mass evacuation has forced a quarter or more of Canada’s oil output offline, affecting an economy already hurt by the fall in the price of oil. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Workers largely live in Fort McMurray.

Police said many parts of smoke-filled Fort McMurray were burned and visibility was low. Officers wore masks as they checked homes.

More than 80,000 people have left and the fire has torched 1,600 buildings. Gas has been turned off, the power grid is damaged and water is not drinkable. Officials said there was no timeline to return residents to the city, though the Alberta government has begun preliminary planning.

Syncrude, a major oil sands mining company, shut down operations and evacuated. The company said in a statement that while there was no imminent threat from fire, smoke had reached its Mildred Lake site.

Lac La Biche, normally a sleepy town of 2,500 about 109 miles south of Fort McMurray, was helping thousands of evacuees find a place to sleep, food, donated clothes and even shelter for their pets.

Jihad Moghrabi, a spokesman for Lac La Biche County, said 4,400 evacuees had come through a sports center in the town. Philip Wylie, his wife, Suda, and his 13-month-old daughter, Phaedra, were among those staying at the center, after evacuating their apartment in Fort McMurray on Tuesday.

“Trees were blowing up against our vehicles,” Philip Wylie said of the drive out of town. “We don’t know what we’re going to go back to, or when we can go back.”

Nicole Cormier, a photographer from Fort McMurray, was staying with family in Lac La Biche. She showed cellphone photos shot from her back yard of the advancing fire, and photos of flames on the side of the road.

Cormier said she checked the security doorbell camera on her house several times a day, to see if the house was still standing. For now, it was.

“It’s weird,” she said. “You feel a big sigh of relief but you feel totally guilty because of what others have lost.”

Smoke fills the air as a police officer stands guard at a roadblock along Highway 63 leading into Fort McMurray on Sunday.

Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/08/fort-mcmurray-wildfire-canada-firefighters-months

[RodandStaff]

Wow...that's shocking stuff!!!  I've had one experience when I was a young man and I flew in a float plane with my dad into a very remote area to go fishing on one of Canada's pristine fishing lakes. We had to fly over a huge area that had recently been charred by an unchecked forest fire.  When I asked the pilot why it got so big (as far as the eye could see for miles and miles) he explained how hard it was to contain fires when there are so few roads to help stop the blaze.  Fires are one of those fearsome forces of nature that can do unbelievable damage...praying for some substantial rain to help the firefighters might the best thing we can do!