Huge Canadian wildfire expands
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta — A massive wildfire raging in the Canadian province of Alberta grew to 210,035 acres, and officials said Thursday they would like to move south about 25,000 evacuees who had previously fled north, including 8,000 by air.
More than 80,000 people have emptied Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada’s oil sands, authorities said.
The Alberta government said more than 1,100 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and 22 air tankers were fighting a total of 49 wildfires, with seven considered out of control. Chad Morrison with AB Wildfire, manager of wildfire prevention, said the blaze grew rapidly, fueled by gusting winds, and he expected the fire to continue to grow Thursday because of dry conditions but it will be away from the community.
The fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Fort McMurray. There have been no injuries or death from the fires. The province of Alberta declared a state of emergency.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said so much is dependent on the weather and rain is needed. She said she didn’t know how much better the evacuation could have been when asked if ample warning was given to residents, noting that in 48 hours more than 80,000 people were evacuated from a town that essentially has two roads out of it.
Fort McMurray is surrounded by wilderness and is Canada’s main oil sands town. Despite the size of the town and its importance to the Canadian economy, there are essentially only two ways out via car. The region has the third largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Aided by high winds, scorching heat and low humidity, the fire grew from 29 square miles Tuesday to 38.6 square miles on Wednesday, but by Thursday it was almost nine times that — at 328.2 square miles.
The fire remained wrapped around the west and southern edges of the city.
About 25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday’s evacuation, where oil sands work camps were being pressed into service to house people. But the bulk of the more than 80,000 evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials said they eventually would like to move everyone south where they have better support for the displaced.
Officials are now trying to fly 8,000 evacuees out of the area starting Thursday afternoon and are hoping the highway becomes safe enough to move people that way.
“Our focus right now is on getting those people south as quickly as possible,” Notley said.