Canada's Burning...

[Lord Jim]

It looks pretty bad; a lot people are going to lose their homes...

Thousands More Flee Fast-Spreading Wildfire in Canada

A state of emergency has been declared in Alberta, with residents forced to evacuate three additional communities.



Fast-moving wildfires spread farther across the Alberta oil sands region on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of three more communities south of Fort McMurray and the work camps north of the city. Thousands of people who fled the flames earlier in the week had to evacuate for the second time in three days.

The three communities — Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates and Fort McMurray First Nation — are about 30 miles south of Fort McMurray, indicating the scale and reach of the wildfire, which drove 88,000 people out of Fort McMurray this week, some of them to a shelter in Anzac. When the three communities were given the order overnight to clear out, frightened residents and evacuees boarded buses and packed up their cars for the slow exodus to Edmonton, the nearest big city.

Strong winds gusting up to 30 miles an hour made tackling the wall of flames risky on Thursday. The raging wildfire has already burned over 25,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,600 buildings in Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada’s oil sands region — a vast stretch of forested wilderness with the third-largest reserves of oil in the world.



Matthew Anderson, a provincial wildfire information officer, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the fire “had grown considerably overnight” and that more than 100 firefighters were on the ground, aided by 12 helicopters and 16 air tankers. But he said they were limited in what they could do because of weather conditions.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that the federal government would match individual citizens’ donations to the Red Cross to assist evacuees. “The people of Fort McMurray can count on the full support of this government,” he said, promising that “together, we will rebuild.”

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016 ... s-map.html

[Scooter]

It's pretty brutal and no end in sight. Warm winter, virtually no snow, the temperature were hitting 30 degrees Celsius (it may have cooled down since) and now winds up to 70 km/h.

[Scooter]

Key numbers and charts that show the scope of the Fort McMurray wildfire

CTVNews.ca highlights some key facts and figures showing the devastating impact of the wildfire ravaging Fort McMurray and the surrounding area, as well as a few charts which put the fires in historical perspective using wildfire data from the Alberta government.

80,000+: number of people displaced in northern Alberta

85,000: size of the fire in hectares as of Thursday, May 5 (that’s 850 square kilometres, or roughly 210,000 acres)

Below, Calgary-based journalist Bryan Passifiume puts that size in perspective, showing what 85,000 hectares looks like when overlaid over maps of New York City and Toronto.

Toronto:


NYC:


1,600: number of structures destroyed in Fort McMurray and the surrounding area (as of Wednesday afternoon; no updated figure yet available)

49: Total number of fires burning in the region as of Thursday.

[Lord Jim]

I saw on CNN that seven of the 49 fires are considered completely out of control..

CNN has also done a bunch of interviews with folks who have evacuated. One guy says his neighborhood hadn't gotten an evacuation order and he got out about 15 minutes before the flames reached his home...

One thing that I was impressed by was how philosophical, calm, and matter-of-fact all these folks were about losing their homes and most of their possessions..

I made a small contribution to the Canadian Red Cross. Here's their website link for anyone interested:

http://www.redcross.ca/

[BoSoxGal]

This is so sad; the earlier and longer wildfire season was a huge reason I wanted to leave the interior West. My friends have all been commenting on the lack of snow and early spring in Montana and other parts of the Rocky Mountains. If summer is warm as predicted . . .

[Scooter]

The fire zone has grown to 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres).

Everyone who evacuated north to the oil camps must now convoy back south through the fire zone to get to safety in the south.

No rain in the forecast, and at this point that is the only hope of putting out the fires.

[Lord Jim]

I heard the number 300 square miles so far destroyed...

To put that in perspective, the city of San Francisco is only 49 square miles, so the destruction area so far is equal to six San Franciscos...

You've got a vast heavily forested area (ie a fuel rich environment for fires) there with dry air and high winds...

A perfect storm for large scale devastation..

[Scooter]

[Scooter]

[Lord Jim]

Massive Canadian wildfire expected to double in size

A massive wildfire in western Canada is expected to double in size by late Saturday as shifting winds push it northeast — away from the fire-ravaged Alberta community of Fort McMurray but straight into heavily forested areas offering fresh fuel.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called the Fort McMurray blaze “an absolute beast of a fire,” and one of the worst he's ever seen, the Edmonton Journal reported.

Nearly 90,000 people have been evacuated from the area in the heart of Canada's oil sands region, with some forced to relocate twice as the flames shifted.

The fire so far has destroyed about 1,600 buildings and homes. [they've been reporting that same number for the past 3 days...it must be higher by now]The mass evacuations forced as much as a quarter of Canada's oil output offline. The region contains the third-largest reserves of oil in the world, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Extremely dry, hot conditions and high winds will fan the flames Saturday, with a "high potential" the fire could double in size by the end of the day, said Chad Morrison, Alberta's manager of wildfire prevention.

The fire grew to about 1,000 square kilometers or 386 square miles by Friday, according to the Alberta provincial government, which declared a state of emergency. Doubling in size would put the blaze at 2,000 square kilometers or 772 square miles, about three times larger than the province's capital of Edmonton.

The fire is expected to expand into a more remote forested area northeast of Fort McMurray, Morrison said.

The blaze is so massive that smoke is blanketing parts of the neighboring province of Saskatchewan where Environment Canada, the country's weather service, issued air quality statements for several areas.

No deaths or injuries have been reported.[ that is beyond miraculous...] Over the past three days, fresh evacuations forced about 13,500 people to evacuate and another 4,000 are expected to leave the area Saturday.

Morrison said no amount of resources will put the fire out. Rain is the only solution.

"We have not seen rain in this area for the last two months of significance," Morrison said. "This fire will continue to burn for a very long time until we see some significant rain."

Environment Canada forecast a 40% chance of showers in the area Sunday. Morrison said cooler conditions were expected Sunday and Monday.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016 ... /84063836/

[Scooter]

The fire so far has destroyed about 1,600 buildings and homes. [they've been reporting that same number for the past 3 days...it must be higher by now]

It's going to be way higher. They haven't had the ability to properly survey the damage within the fire zone since the early stages. They are looking at potential damage estimates up to $10 billion (almost $8 billion U.S.)

[Lord Jim]

Smoke from the massive Fort McMurray wildfire has spread to Southeast U.S.



The massive fire in Fort McMurray continues to burn, with no progress made in controlling the blaze. A huge plume of brown smoke, previously confined to central Canada and the Dakotas, is now wafting into the Southeast U.S., transported by upper-level winds.

The smoke can be seen plainly on satellite imagery from GOES East. Sunny skies over the Midwest and Southeast are sandwiched by clouds to the west and over the Eastern Seaboard. The high pressure ridge and accompanying clear air has made it obvious just how far the effects of the Fort McMurray fire have traveled.

Satellite analysis from NOAA shows smoke has reached as far south as Florida.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/cap ... heast-u-s/

[Scooter]

American singer-songwriter James Taylor plans to donate the proceeds of two upcoming concerts in Alberta to the Canadian Red Cross to support victims of the Fort McMurray wildfires.

“I can’t imagine what they’re going through,” Taylor said backstage after his concert in Ottawa on Friday, the opening date of the Canadian leg of Taylor’s tour with his All-Star Band.

Taylor said he’s always had a soft spot for Canada, and wanted to help. Turning the June 7 show in Edmonton and June 8 in Calgary into benefit concerts seemed like the obvious thing to do, he added.

[Scooter]

It appears that in one respect this fire has not been as devastating as feared - Nearly 90 per cent of Fort McMurray still intact; 2,400 structures lost

[Scooter]