(Fort Nelson) Thousands of Fort McMurray residents were called to evacuate Tuesday afternoon as a major wildfire threatens the region.
The evacuated areas are in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray. Their residents were ordered to evacuate by 4 p.m. Tuesday, along with their pets, and to check into an emergency center.
“These neighborhoods are in the area where the fire could spread. The authorities will be better able to defend these neighborhoods against fires if they are uninhabited and clear,” it says on the Wood Buffalo website.
Earlier in the day, the fire threatening Fort McMurray appeared to be burning about 10 miles southeast of the city, a hub of oil sands development.
But the blaze continued to grow so that it was about 8 kilometers from the southern boundary of Fort McMurray by afternoon, an Alberta Wildfire spokeswoman said., Josee St-Onge. Its intensity and unpredictable nature make it difficult to contain, she added, according to CBC reports.
“We are seeing extreme fire behavior. Columns of smoke emerge and the sky is covered with smoke. The firefighters were withdrawn for safety reasons,” she said.
In 2016, Fort McMurray was devastated by a massive forest and bush fire, which damaged or razed 2,400 homes.
This fire is one of many raging across the West and the Prairies, from British Columbia to Manitoba.
In northwestern Manitoba, approximately 550 residents of Cranberry Portage were forced to leave their homes over the weekend as winds pushed the fire near the community.
Some residents were able to return temporarily on Tuesday, accompanied, to observe the damage. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew was also scheduled to visit the region on Tuesday.
Earl Simmons, the province’s wildfire director, says the fire spread faster than any fire he’s seen in his career.
In a social media post, the RM of Kelsey says residents who went south to The Pas and want to move north to Flin Flon could do so Tuesday afternoon. This municipality says it does not know how long the state of emergency will last.
British Columbia
A forest fire near the town of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, spread Tuesday, as residents in the northeast of the province receive more and more evacuation orders from authorities.
PHOTO BC WILDFIRE SERVICE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Forest fire near Fort Nelson, British Columbia.
An update from the provincial forest fire department said the fire was 84 square kilometers as of Tuesday morning, a significant increase since Monday, when it was mapped at about 53 square kilometers.
Meteorologists predicted winds likely to bring this fire closer to Fort Nelson, where the town of around 4,700 residents and the neighboring indigenous community have been under an evacuation order since Friday.
Areas under mandatory evacuation in northeastern British Columbia increased with the latest order Monday for the Doig River Indigenous community and the Peace River Regional District, as a fire threatens nearby.
Peace River officials asked residents to grab what they needed and head south to an evacuation center in Fort St. John.
PHOTO JESSE BOILY, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Evacuees from Fort Nelson gather at the North Peace Arena in Fort St. John.
Northern Rockies Regional Municipality Mayor Rob Fraser said employees at the emergency operations center called as many people as possible and had to convince some of them to leave. Mr. Fraser believes that around fifty of the 4,700 residents are still in Fort Nelson, in addition to emergency personnel.
“We are truly at the mercy of the weather and so far it is on our side,” Mayor Fraser said in a video posted on Facebook. He explains that Sunday’s winds prevented the flames from getting closer to the city.
The mayor also clarified that there was still electricity and water in Fort Nelson, while the power was particularly worrying for evacuees, concerned about their homes.
One downside of the broad evacuation, Fraser said, is that it has been difficult for essential personnel, including firefighters, to find food.