Wildfire approaches western Canada oil town, forcing 6,000 to evacuate
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A wildfire on the south side of the Athabasca River Valley near Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, on May 10.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Alberta – A large wildfire is slowly approaching the major Canadian oil sands city of Fort McMurray and about 6,000 people in four suburbs have been told to evacuate, local officials said on May 14.
The fire, fuelled by tinder-dry conditions and high winds, has been threatening the city in the western province of Alberta since last week
Alberta Wildfire information officer Josee St-Onge said the blaze grew significantly on May 14 and noted that winds from the south-west were gusting at speeds as high as 40kmh.
“Unfortunately, these are not favourable winds for us and the fire will continue to advance towards the town until we see a wind shift,” she told an online media briefing.
“We’re seeing extreme fire behaviour. Smoke columns are developing and the skies are covered in smoke... firefighters have been pulled from the fire line for safety reasons.”
The fire has grown in size and has now spread to more than 10,000ha, officials said.
In a statement, the local authority said residents in the suburbs of Abasand, Beacon Hill, Prairie Creek and Grayling had to leave by 2200 GMT.
In 2016, a huge wildfire in Fort McMurray forced the evacuation of 90,000 residents and shut in more than a million barrels per day (bpd) of oil output.
People in other parts of Fort McMurray not under evacuation order are also starting to leave, said resident Elsie Knister, as she prepared to depart from her downtown neighbourhood on the afternoon of May 14.
“People aren’t waiting for an order, they’re just going already,” Ms Knister, who also evacuated in 2016, said in a phone interview. “I feel sunk. I’m 71 and I don’t want to go through this again, it’s horrible.”
Officials said Fort McMurray is better prepared to fight the fire than it was in 2016. Much of the boreal forest surrounding the city burned in the 2016 fire, meaning there is less fuel available to the blaze now.
“This fire activity is very different than (in) 2016... We have an abundance of resources and we are well positioned to respond to this situation,” said regional fire chief Jody Butz.
He said evacuees were encouraged to leave Fort McMurray but could remain in other neighbourhoods in the city if they wished. The city has 250 to 300 firefighters available to help protect structures, Mr Butz added.
Fort McMurray is the hub for Canada’s oil sands industry, which produces roughly 3.3 million bpd, two-thirds of Canada’s total output.
Companies such as Suncor Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and Imperial Oil have oil sands projects within 150km of the city and many workers live in Fort McMurray.
“This will put more people on edge. We’ll have to see if the actual production sites themselves come under threat,” said RBN Energy analyst Martin King.
“Back in 2016 the fires themselves were getting close so the companies evacuated people for safety, and of course the people who worked in these sites were evacuated and had nowhere to go, so they ended up shutting down production.” REUTERS
