Devastating Alberta wildfire continues to spread
LAC LA BICHE, Alberta – The images are ones of devastation – scorched homes, virtually whole neighborhoods burned to the ground. And Canadian officials say they expect to fight the massive wildfire that has destroyed large parts of Alberta’s oil sands town for months.
There’s fear the growing wildfire could double in size and reach a major oil sands mine and even the neighboring province of Saskatchewan.
The Alberta government said the massive blaze in the province will cover more than 494,211 acres by Sunday and will continue to grow because of high temperatures, dry conditions and high winds. Chad Morrison of Alberta Wildfire said it’s not uncommon to fight such an inferno in forested areas for months.
“In no way is this fire under control,” Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said.
Officials had hoped to complete the mass evacuation of work camps north of Fort McMurray on Saturday. Thousands of displaced residents got a drive-by view of some of the burned-out neighborhoods as convoys continued. No deaths or injuries have been reported since the fire started last Sunday.
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 they hoped to complete the evacuation of evacuees from northern work camps by late Saturday.
Officials said the fire could burn to the edges of the Suncor oil sands facility, about 15 miles north of Fort McMurray. Nonessential 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, Morrison said. He said the sites also have very good industrial fire departments, and the fire wasn’t expected to reach the oil sands mines north of Suncor.
The fire and mass evacuation has forced a quarter or more of Canada’s oil output offline and was expected to impact an economy already hurt by the 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.
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 everyone was out.
More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray, where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other buildings. Gas has been turned off, the power grid is damaged and water is not drinkable. Officials said there is no timeline to return residents to the city, but the Alberta government has begun preliminary planning, though it stresses fighting the fire is still the first priority.
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, also shut down operations and evacuated. 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.
Morrison of Alberta Wildfires said the fire is burning away from communities. He said cooler temperatures were expected Sunday and over the next week. They could get rainfall Sunday, but significant rainfall is needed.
The 494,211 acres includes burned areas and those areas still in flames. The fire has destroyed about 772 square miles of northern Alberta forest.
Lac La Biche, Alberta, normally a sleepy town of 2,500 about 109 miles south of Fort McMurray, was helping thousands of evacuees, providing a place to sleep, food, donated clothes and even shelter for their pets.
Jihad Moghrabi, a spokesman for Lac La Biche County, said that 4,400 evacuees have come through The Bold Center, a sports facility in town. The center was offering three free meals a day and other services.
Philip Wylie, wife Suda and 13-month-old daughter Phaedra were among those staying at the center after evacuating their apartment in Fort McMurray on Tuesday.
“Trees were blowing up against our vehicles,” Philip Wylie said of the caravan drive out of town. “We don’t know what we’re going to go back to, or when we can go back.”
Suda Wylie said the day they had evacuated started out clear, and they thought they would be fine. Then, in a matter of hours, she said, she opened the blinds and “the sky was orange.”
They rushed to pack, grabbed documents, passports and their laptops before they left, but thinking that they would be able to return home soon, only packed enough clothes for two days.
The family spent the first night camping on the property of a sand pit after the owner said they could set up camp near a pond. Once they realized that the fire was growing and they couldn’t get home, they went to an evacuation center that was itself ultimately evacuated because of the fire. They arrived at The Bold Center late Wednesday night.
“Everything that I’m wearing right now, besides my shoes and my socks, is donation,” Philip Wylie said.