Students from Fort McMurray Composite High School are released early as wildfire burns nearby in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada on Tuesday.
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MacDonald Island, the initial evacuation site in Fort McMurray’s downtown for residents in affected neighbourhoods, itself had to be evacuated. Alberta has called for an airlift as the fires have cut the major southern route out of the city.
Highway 63 north and south of town became choked with traffic Tuesday afternoon as waves of residents fled the city.
The city is in the heart of Canada’s oil sands region.
Fort McMurray is in Canada’s oil-sands country.
Others drove north of Fort McMurray where oilsands companies opened their work camps to shelter evacuees. So we lost everything.
“We will hope to follow in the shadow of Slave Lake in our perseverance and resolve”, said Blake.
“Our hospital is on fire, where my children were born”, he said.
Notley said Wednesday that no casualties had been reported, saying everything possible was being done to ensure the population’s safety.
Pictures and video on social media depicted a hellish scene. The fire has been burning since Sunday. Nine air tankers and 12 helicopters are being used to fight the conflagration.
“[With] the heat from the oncoming smoke and the flames, you could see mini-tornadoes forming near the road. It was something out of an apocalyptic movie”. “If you know anyone or have any friends or families who have been evacuated from Fort McMurray, make sure they are okay”.
TV footage and photographs on Twitter showed flames and smoke billowing over the city and traffic heading north on the highway to safety, while CTV News reported a trailer park had been destroyed.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged all residents to obey evacuation orders and said his thoughts were with the people of Fort McMurray. “Everyone else is hopeful that the fires can be contained before any further damage is done in the community”.
Mark Jones told CNN his neighborhood went from a voluntary evacuation to a mandatory one in an hour.
Fort McMurray resident Crystal Maltais buckles in her daughter after evacuating their home in Fort McMurray.
“And certainly in Fort McMurray, the hard times they are going through right now is something that we are going to unite around”, Trudeau said in opening remarks to his Liberal caucus Wednesday morning on Parliament Hill. You look up and then you watch all the trees candle-topping. up the hills where you live and youre thinking, Oh my God. “Albertans have proven time and time again that when disaster strikes, we come together and we find the solutions and we get through it”.
Thomas said he’s on the way to the evacuation centre with nothing but the clothes on his back. It is 30 kilometers (18 miles) away and one of the closest facilities to the city.
It was five years ago this month that another wildfire in the province destroyed almost half the town of Slave Lake, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) noted.
“I left my neighbourhood and there were houses on fire”, he said.
The large work camps can normally accommodate thousands.
There were no initial reports of any injuries as a result of the fire.
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There was gridlock on roads. The wildfire threat ranging from very high to extreme.
