(Fort Mcmurray) Hard-working crews and rain keep fire away from Fort McMurray, Alta., as homes burn in B.C.
Every day since a wildfire began threatening the city of Fort McMurray, exhausted firefighters emerge from helicopters at the end of another difficult shift.
Hard, manual work? “Yes,” said Gavin Hojka, incident commander in charge of 172 wildland firefighters.
There is no road access to the front lines of the fire, which has been contained thanks to cool, wet weather and the hard work of crews.
Teams of eight to twenty people are transported by helicopter every morning. They head toward the flames on foot, carrying pumps, chainsaws, shovels, axes and fire hoses – lots and lots of hoses.
“They will bring a dozen boxes of hoses for the day,” Mr. Hojka said.
Each box of hoses weighs approximately 27 kilograms. The pumps that fill them weigh about 30 kilograms and must be carried on their backs to the nearest beaver pond, stream or river.
With water and hand tools, they attack the fire for 12 to 14 hours straight, fueled only by the lunch bag they have. Then the helicopter comes to pick them up so they can rest a little before leaving.
PHOTO JESSE WINTER, REUTERS
Firefighters return from a day in Fort McMurray, as a forest fire threatens the city.
“We do everything we can to get them home in the evening,” Mr. Hojka said. We make sure that someone flies in a helicopter and acts as an eye in the sky, a lookout. »
Still, the fire remained out of control Friday and about 6,600 residents in four neighborhoods in the oilsands hub remained outside their homes.
It is one of several fires that have forced the evacuation of communities across Western Canada.
Fort Nelson, British Columbia, a town of 4,700 people, was evacuated a week ago. Recent videos posted on social media show what appear to be several destroyed homes outside the city.
British Columbia’s Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said the province’s worst fears about the fires had not come to fruition, but the region was not yet “out of the woods.”
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Parker Lake wildfire near Fort Nelson on May 13
In northwestern Manitoba, there was good news for the 675 residents forced to leave Cranberry Portage and surrounding areas last weekend.
The provincial forest fire service said the fire was under control and weather conditions were cooperating. Residents will therefore be allowed to return on Sunday. A small number of properties were damaged.
Fort McMurray learned from 2016
In Fort McMurray, some of the four neighborhoods evacuated Tuesday appeared deserted, with trash cans neatly lined up on driveways next to cars, trucks and all-terrain vehicles. The police, rescue workers and birds were the only ones present.
At Grayling Terrace, crews installed sprinklers capable of spraying 600 liters of water per minute on trees and bushes near homes.
In Beacon Hill, young cottonwood trees near homes were sprayed a deep orange hue with fire retardant, part of 168,000 gallons of the phosphate-based chemical that were sprayed throughout the city.
The rest of the city of 68,000 was told they were on evacuation alert and might have to leave at short notice.
The fire spread to approximately 200 square kilometers and just under six kilometers from the southern outskirts of the city. About 10 millimeters of rain fell in the region Thursday evening, and more was forecast for the long weekend.
Despite the favorable weather, evacuees are not expected to be allowed to return until at least Tuesday.
Jody Butz, fire chief for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, said officials are developing a plan to welcome evacuees back when it is safe to do so.
Residents of other neighborhoods not covered by the evacuation order who left voluntarily are allowed to return at any time, Mayor Sandy Bowman said.
“People are going to work, businesses are open, traffic is fluid,” he said.
He said authorities learned a valuable lesson when a massive fire began burning parts of Fort McMurray eight years ago as everyone fled for safety. This fire burned more than 2,400 homes.
“The important lesson of 2016 is that we should not fight a fire and evacuate neighborhoods at the same time,” Bowman said. We are better prepared this time and we are better positioned to protect your community. »