The fire’s large and spreading range means firefighters can only try to direct the blaze away from populated areas rather than extinguish it. And without a major rainfall, that likely won’t happen for months, officials have said. He expected cooler temperatures along with the rain Sunday, but significant rainfall is needed to put out the flames.
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Smoke fills the air as a police officer stands guard at a roadblock along Highway 63 leading into Fort McMurray on Sunday.
About half of the provinces of Alberta and Sasketchewan were in “extreme” fire danger on Sunday, Environment Canada, the country’s weather service, said.
Two deaths have been reported due to the wildfire, Notley said, both in traffic accidents during the evacuation last week.
“There is an economic outcome to taking production offline”, she said Tuesday after a meeting with oil company executives. Officials said Sunday they have completed the transport of thousands of evacuees and reached a turning point in fighting a massive wild…
The fire skipped some areas while leveling entire neighborhoods, including Beacon Hill.
It remains unclear how long the oil sands shutdowns will continue. “With the cooler weather, I do expect to hold the fire there for the next few days”, Mr. Morrison said, though he offered no guarantees.
Fort McMurray is the center of Canada’s oil sands region. Its workers largely live in Fort McMurray.
A torched pickup truck rests alongside incinerated properties in fire-damaged Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said some 2,400 structures in Fort McMurray were burnt, but added that officials were encouraged by how much of the town escaped destruction.
Emergency management officials will start the process of examining the damage from the blaze as well as check on infrastructure like natural gas lines and the power grid.
Illustrating its unpredictability, officials ordered the evacuation of two hamlets south of Fort McMurray, home to a combined population of 530 people, at midday. 1,500 employees at the Syncrude facility were evacuated over the weekend-and the facility was shut down.
He said the sites also have very good industrial fire departments.
Crews worked on Tuesday to start restoring water and electricity in this Canadian oil hub turned into a ghost town by a towering ring of fire that reduced its suburbs to ashes. In the meantime, all Canadian public schools will accept evacuated children. She encouraged them to do so online.
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She said staff are going to try to reduce the normal 28-day wait period substantially.
