In terror as destroy city
WILDFIRES raging through the Canadian province of Alberta yesterday have devastated an area bigger than New York.
The blaze which left the city of Fort McMurray in ruins has destroyed 328 square miles of land, firefighters said.
Officials warned the fire could spread further because “conditions are still tinder dry”.
Chad Morrison, the province’s wildfire management specialist, said: “No matter how many air tankers we throw at this thing, we’re not going to be able to stop this fire.
“It’s going to continue to burn with high intensity for the next several days until we get some rain or cooler conditions.”
Gusting winds have fanned the inferno which has forced 88,000 people to flee and destroyed more than 1,600 homes.
More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze but Bill Stewart, co- director of the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Fire Research and Outreach, said only nature can halt the fires.
Chaos
He said: “You could add five times the number of firefighters but you can’t get all the embers.
“There’s no way to put out every ember flying over firefighters’ heads.”
People fleeing their homes spoke of terrifying scenes. Sinead Cusack, who made it out of Fort McMurray with her husband and their cat, said: “We drove through flames. Everything was burning – friends’ houses burning. Not knowing who was where. Utter chaos.”
Ryan Cox said he had just 45 minutes to pack a bag and get his wife Amanda and their two- yearold son Malcolm out of their house.
“By the time we had got everything together, that was when the evacuation notice came,” he said.
“Then, when we had to drive through the valley, I blew a tyre, so I gunned it with a flat through downtown.”
He said it was like a Mad Max movie scene.
Fatalities were reported in a car crash on the evacuation route.
Although the cause of the fire is unknown, officials said tinder- dry brush, low humidity and hot, gusting winds left crews unable to stop the massive conflagration. A squadron prepares to tackle the blaze