Fire chief Darby Allen told the CBC the flames were out in the city itself, but some wooded areas are still on fire.
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Some 88,000 residents have been evacuated, with no injuries reported.
“If this fire does cause an extended period of misplacement of the workforce or movement of them, this may impact the output of a lot of these oilsands mines and upgraders”, he said.
The Suncor oil sands facility seen from a helicopter near Fort McMurray, Alta. Although most oil-drilling projects lie far from the city, firefighters have great care as to whether the fire will reach the nearby oil fields.
“We brought a sprinkler trailer from (Slave Lake) and we just happened to be here when things got tough, so they asked us to stay”.
“The girls that I work closely with, they set up a Facebook group and checking in making sure everyone is ok”. At least half of a northern Alberta city was ordered evacuated Tuesday as a wildfire whipped by winds engulfed home…
The blaze, which had burned since Sunday but seemed on its way to being neutralized Tuesday morning, overwhelmed firefighters when winds shifted quickly and drastically in the mid-afternoon to the southwest of the city.
“It’s tough when it becomes national and global news for a city of 80,000 people”, Upshall said.
Pictures and video on social media depicted a hellish scene. There were about 30 fires burning in the province.
Ian Lightbody of Emergency Management BC said 325 residences are covered by the alert and residents have been warned that they may need to leave at a moment’s notice.
“We have offered Alberta the use of air tankers and equipment”. “You couldn’t see anything. It was something out of an apocalyptic movie”.
Jordan Stuffco filmed the exodus out of Fort McMurray.
“Aren’t you aware of the evacuation order?”
Three more communities have been forced to evacuate while a raging wild fire continues to rip through parts of Alberta, Canada.
Mark Jones told CNN his neighborhood went from a voluntary evacuation to a mandatory one in an hour. She said it was scary as she drove to an evacuation center with her son and cat. “It’s just blocks and blocks of soot, basically”, she said.
“It was absolutely horrifying when we were sitting there in traffic”. Companies that mine and upgrade oil sands bitumen rely on massive pieces of machinery, high temperatures and high pressures to do the dirty work-producing fuels and feedstock.
Shell Canada has announced that it has opened its work camps for all evacuees.
Some smoke from another fire in Manitoba already is lingering over the Red River Valley, he said. “I don’t know if and when I’ll be going back”. A CTV reporter there said there was nearly nothing left. The roads are gridlocked. “Flames are right next to a gas station”, said Carina Van Heerde with radio station KAOS.
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British Columbia’s forests minister says the province can’t send personnel to neighbouring Alberta before dealing with its own fires spurred by unseasonably dry weather. The wildfire threat ranging from very high to extreme.
