Alberta fire rages on and claims further ground as weather shifts

A massive, raging wild fire moved south and forced three more communities south of Canada's main oil sands city to evacuate.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th May 2016, 05:15 BST
Updated 6th May 2016, 06:17 BST
Unseasonably hot temperatures have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinderbox. Picture: APUnseasonably hot temperatures have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinderbox. Picture: AP
Unseasonably hot temperatures have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinderbox. Picture: AP

Officials with the Rural Municipality of Wood Buffalo had been notified of changing weather patterns and were not taking chances, ordering the evacuation of Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation. The fire has already forced the evacuation of more 80,000 people and torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Fort McMurray. The province of Alberta declared a state of emergency.

In the early hours of yesterday morning, weary evacuees from Fort McMurray were sitting on buses headed for Edmonton after being forced out of their temporary shelter in nearby Anzac.

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They had arrived there late on Tuesday after being evacuated from Fort McMurray. By Wednesday morning, the Anzac recreational centre was a bustling hub filled with people, tables of food and rows of cots. By that evening, it was eerily silent and empty.

An evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via APAn evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP
An evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP

There was some good news –Fort McMurray’s water treatment plant was saved, and Scott Long of Alberta Emergency said the downtown core was being held “through some Herculean efforts” of firefighters. There was still no indication of injury or death.

But the images were largely ones of devastation – scorched trucks, charred homes and telephone poles, burned out from the bottom up, hanging in the wires like little wooden crosses.

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley flew up to survey the situation first-hand, and tweeted “heartbreaking” pictures of the fire from above. As high as her helicopter was, she said the plumes of smoke reached even higher.

“So far, I’d have to say people have been amazing,” she said after a visit with evacuees at a giant Edmonton sports arena.

An evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via APAn evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP
An evacuee puts petrol into his car on his way out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, as a wildfire burns in the background. Picture: Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP

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.

Related topics:Canada