88,000 Flee Wildfire in Canada, Alberta Declares Emergency

A massive wildfire tore through, burning down 1,600 structures in the heart of the oil sands industry.

Wildfires burn in and around Fort McMurray, Alberta.(Photo: AP)

Alberta declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires that have already torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Canada’s main oil sands city of Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the fire had destroyed or damaged an estimated 1,600 structures. Flames are being kept from the downtown area thanks to the “herculean’” efforts of firefighters, said Scott Long of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency.

No injuries or fire related fatalities have been reported. The fire appeared near the airport late Wednesday where crews were on site. All commercial flights in and out of Fort McMurray have been suspended.

Extent of Damage

Unseasonably hot temperatures combined with dry conditions have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinder box. 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.

Danielle Larivee, Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs, said the fire is actively burning in residential areas. More than 250 firefighters are battling the blaze. An update from the Municipality of Wood Buffalo later in the evening indicated the fire was continuing to claim homes and had destroyed a new school.

Fatalities have been reported from a collision on a nearby highway but she was unaware if it was related to the evacuation or fire.

There were haunting images of scorched trucks, charred homes and telephone poles, burned out from the bottom up, hanging in the wires like little wooden crosses.

Some residents were evacuated for a second time late Wednesday when they were told to leave their emergency accommodations in the nearby hamlet of Anzac.

Officials said changing weather patterns forced the move. There had been 2,500 evacuees registered at the local recreation centre, although it was not known how many were still there when they were told to get on buses for Edmonton further to the south.

The blaze effectively cut Fort McMurray in two late Tuesday, forcing about 10,000 north to the safety of oil sands work camps.

The other 70,000 or so were sent streaming south in a bumper-to-bumper snake line of cars and trucks that stretched beyond the horizon down Highway 63. Some vehicles sat in ditches, the victims of engine trouble or a lack of gas.

Firefighters were working to protect critical infrastructure, including the only bridge across the Athabasca River and Highway 63, the only major route to the city in or out.

It’s a community of 88,000 people that’s been totally evacuated, This is going to take a while to recover.

Ralph Goodale, Federal Public Safety Minister

Damage Control Efforts

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said while the full extent of the damage isn’t yet known he called it “absolutely devastating” and said there’s a loss on a scale that’s hard to imagine. Trudeau said he’s offered the province his government’s full support. He encouraged Canadians to support friends and donate to the Red Cross.

Trudeau noted climate change is contributing to an increase in extreme weather and fires but said it’s difficult to establish a direct link.

Most oil sands projects are well north of the community while the worst of the flames were on the city’s south side. Allen said he’s not aware of any threat to oil facilities but called the fire a “moving animal.”

Evacuation and Rehabilitation

Notley said about 10,000 evacuees moved north where oil sands work camps were being pressed into service to house evacuees. The bulk of the evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials said they eventually would like to move everyone south.

Shell said it has shut down production at its Shell Albian Sands mining operations – about 60 miles north of the city – so they 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 north of the city. Many other companies evacuated non-essential staff.

Chelsie Klassen, a spokesperson for The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said all large oil sands facilities have emergency crews and plans for forest fires, noting all personnel would be evacuated and facilities would be properly shut to minimise the damage. She noted 80 percent of the oil sands is located deep underground and can only be extracted through a drilling process. The remaining twenty percent is minable from the surface and predominantly located north of Fort McMurray. She said it can burn under certain circumstances, however, oil sands would burn at a much slower pace considering its composition with sand.

You could hear the pop, pop, pop because of the propane tanks. The fire was just consuming these houses. It just destroyed the whole community. There was a Shell gas station that blew up and a Denny’s next door. There was nothing but the foundation and it was still smoldering in flames.

Doug Sulliman, Former National Hockey League player on the view from his apartment