Evacuations may be ending as fire grows

LACLABICHE, CANADA>> Canadian officials hoped to complete the mass evacuation of work camps north of Alberta’s main oil sands city of Fort McMurray on Saturday, fearing a growing wildfire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine and even the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.

Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said the massive blaze in the province covered more than 385,476 acres and could be 741,300 acres by the end of Saturday because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds.

That size includes burned areas and those areas still in flames.

“The fire may double in size in the forested areas today. As well they may actually reach the Saskatchewan border. In no way is this fire under control,” Alberta Province Premier Rachel Notley said.

Thousands of displaced residents were getting a sobering drive-by view of some of the burned-out neighborhoods as convoys continued Saturday. The images were largely ones of devastation — scorched trucks, charred homes and telephone poles, burned out from the bottomup, hanging in the wires like little wooden crosses. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Notley said about 12,000 evacuees have been airlifted from oil sands mine air fields over the past two days, and about 7,000 have been evacuated in police escorted highway convoys. She said the goal was to complete the evacuation of northernwork camps by late Saturday.

Notley’s comments came as officials said the fire could burn to the edges of the Suncor oil sands facility, about 15 miles north of Fort McMurray. Non-essential staff have been evacuating and efforts to protect the site were underway.

“This facility it should be emphasized is highly resilient to forest fires as we have seen in past when it’s previously been threatened by very large fires,” Notley said.

Oil sands mines are resilient to fires because they are cleared and have no vegetation, said Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire.

He said the sites also have very good industrial fire departments.

The fire and mass evacuation has forced as much as a quarter of Canada’s oil output offline and was expected to impact a Canadian economy already hurt by a dramatic fall in the price of oil. The Alberta oil sands have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Its workers largely live in Fort McMurray where some neighborhoods have been destroyed.

Police said many parts of smoke-filled Fort McMurray are burnt and visibility is low. Officers wore masks as they checked homes to make sure everyonewas out

More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’ oil sands, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings.

About 25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday’s mandatory evacuation, where oil sands work camps that usually house employees were used to house evacuees. Officials are moving everyone south where it is safer.

Syncrude, a major oil sands mining company, became the latest to shut down operations. The company said in a statement that while there is no imminent threat from fire, smoke has reached its Mildred Lake site.

They intend to have all personnel out this weekend and started the evacuation early Saturday.

Syncrude said they will restore operations when there is no risk.

RYAN REMIORZ / THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Evacuees drive past a wildfire Saturday south of Fort McMurray. Canadian officials feared the massive wildfire could double in size by the end of Saturday as they continue to evacuate residents of fire-ravaged Fort McMurray from work camps.