FORT
MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) -- Canadian officials began evacuating
8,000 people from work camps north of devastated Fort McMurray by air on
Thursday and hoped to move thousands more via a highway convoy Friday
if it is safe from a massive wildfire raging in Alberta that has grown
to 85,000 hectares (210,035 acres).
More than 80,000 people have emptied Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada's oil sands, authorities said.
The
Alberta government, which declared a state of emergency, said more than
1,100 firefighters, 145 helicopters, 138 pieces of heavy equipment and
22 air tankers were fighting a total of 49 wildfires, with seven
considered out of control. Chad Morrison with AB Wildfire, manager of
wildfire prevention, said the fire continued to grow but is moving away
from Fort McMurray and the rate of its growth has slowed.
About
25,000 evacuees moved north in the hours after Tuesday's mandatory
evacuation, where oil sands work camps were converted to house people.
But the bulk of the more than 80,000 evacuees fled south to Edmonton and
elsewhere, and officials are moving everyone south where they can get
better support services.
Officials had flown
4,000 evacuees to Edmonton and Calgary by Thursday evening and expected
to fly 4,000 more by the end of the day. They hoped the highway would
become safe enough on Friday to move the remaining people out via the
south. It wasn't safe Thursday. A helicopter will lead the evacuation
convoy on Friday morning to make sure the highway is safe. It will pass
through Fort McMurray where the fire has torched 1,600 homes and other
buildings.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the first convoy will be 400 vehicles and officials would see how that goes.
There
have been no injuries or death in the province from the fires. Notley
said financial support will be provided to Albertans and that cash cards
may be made available for evacuated residents.
The
Alberta government also declared a province-wide fire ban in an effort
to reduce the risk of more blazes in a province that is very hot and
dry.
Morrison said rain is needed.
"Let
me be clear: air tankers are not going to stop this fire," he said. "It
is going to continue to push through
these dry conditions until we
actually get some significant rain."
The fire
remained wrapped around the western and southern edges of the city. No
rain clouds were expected around Fort McMurray until late Saturday, with
40 percent chance of showers, according to online forecasts by
Environment Canada.
Notley said she didn't
know how much better the evacuation could have been when asked if ample
warning was given to residents, noting that in 48 hours more than 80,000
people were evacuated from a town that essentially has two roads out of
it.
Fort McMurray is surrounded by wilderness
and is Canada's main oil sands town. Despite the size of the town and
its importance to the Canadian economy, there are essentially only two
ways out via car. The region has the third largest reserves of oil in
the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Aided
by high winds, scorching heat and low humidity, the fire grew from 75
square kilometers (29 square miles) Tuesday to 100 square kilometers
(38.6 square miles) on Wednesday, but by Thursday it was almost nine
times that - at 850 square kilometers (328.2 square miles). That's an
area roughly the size of Calgary - Alberta's largest city.
Unseasonably
hot temperatures combined with dry conditions have transformed the
boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinder box. Morrison said they
are investigating the cause of the fire but he said it started in a
remote forested area and said it could have been lightning.
A
combination of factors conspired to make this wildfire especially
ferocious, said Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in California. The El Nino global weather system brought
Alberta a mild winter and low snowpack, he said. Patzert said the flames
sparked at a time between the snowy season and before springtime rains
that turn the landscape green, making the region especially vulnerable
to wildfire.
"In a way, it's a perfect storm,"
Patzert said. "It's been warm, it's been dry and windy. It's the
in-between period before you're in the full bloom of spring."
The
fire is driving one of the largest evacuations in North America in
recent memory, said Bill Stewart, co-director of the University of
California's Center for Fire Research and Outreach at the University of
California, Berkeley.
With few exceptions in the United States, an entire town hasn't been threatened on this scale for more than 100 years, he said.
"You
could add five times the number of firefighters, but you can't get all
the embers," he said. "There's no way to put out every ember flying over
firefighters' heads."
Fort McMurray resident
Fahed Labek, whose relatives from war-torn Syria recently migrated to
northern Alberta as refugees, said his family has escaped one fire for
another. Labek fled the encroaching wildfire two days ago with family
members, who arrived in Canada in late February.
Labek,
who made it to Edmonton after a harrowing journey, is concerned the
refugees are enduring additional trauma after leaving the Middle East.
But he said he's taking solace in the helpfulness of Canadians now
assisting the tens of thousands of forest fire evacuees.
The
fire has dealt a blow to the region's crude production, with companies
curtailing production or stopping altogether. Notley, the province
premier, said the infrastructure for oil and gas production remains
largely unaffected. What's slowing down production is that their
employees are not there, she said.
The airport
only suffered minor damage because of the "herculean'" efforts of
firefighters, said Scott Long of the Alberta Emergency Management
Agency. Firefighters have focused on protecting key infrastructure like
the water treatment plant, the hospital and the airport. Crews water
bombed the city Thursday.
