The 88,000 residents who fled a wildfire that has ravaged the Canadian oil town of Fort McMurray in Alberta will not be able to return home anytime soon, officials warned on Thursday, even as the inferno edged slowly south.
The blaze, which erupted on Sunday, grew more than tenfold from 18,500 acres on Wednesday to some 210,000 acres on Thursday, an area roughly 10 times the size of Manhattan. The out-of-control blaze consumed entire neighbourhoods of Fort McMurray in Canada’s energy heartland, and officials warn its spread now threatens two oil sands sites south of the city.
The wildfire has already forced precautionary production cuts or shutdowns at about a dozen major facilities, eating into a global crude surplus and supporting oil prices this week.
“The damage to the community of Fort McMurray is extensive and the city is not safe for residents,” said Alberta premier Rachel Notley in a press briefing late Thursday, as those stranded in camps and on the roadside to the north of the city clamored for answers. “It is simply not possible, nor is it responsible, to speculate on a time when citizens will be able to return. We do know that it will not be a matter of days,” she said.
Three days after the residents were ordered to leave Fort McMurray, firefighters were still battling to protect homes, businesses and other structures from the flames. More than 1,600 structures, including hundreds of homes, had been destroyed by Wednesday morning. Officials declined on Thursday to estimate how many more had been lost. The communities of Anzac and Gregoire Lake Estates about 50 kilometres south of Fort McMurray were “under extreme threat”, late Thursday.
The Canadian police led convoys of cars through the burning ghost town of Fort McMurray on Friday in a risky operation to get people to safety far to the south. The police took up positions at intersections along the way to keep people from detouring to their houses to try to salvage belongings and make sure the route remains safe from the fire, which has encircled the town of 100,000.
The communities of Anzac and Gregoire Lake Estates about 50 kilometres south of Fort McMurray were “under extreme threat,” late Thursday, as the flames spread to the southeast.
There have been no known casualties from the blaze itself, but fatalities were reported in a car crash along the evacuation route.
Although the cause of the fire was unknown, officials said tinder-dry brush, low humidity, and hot, gusting winds left crews unable to stop the massive conflagration.
The dry weather conditions prompted the province to issue a fire ban for parks and protected areas on Thursday.
For those stranded north of Fort McMurray, there was a hint of good news. With the fire moving to the southeast, officials are hoping to begin a ground evacuation from the north on Friday morning and briefly re-open the main highway through the city to let people drive south.
